DeGette optimistic about action to speed delivery of medical cures

DENVER — In a Washington where practically nothing gets done, Colorado's longest-serving member of Congress is optimistic about a bipartisan effort to accelerate and improve medical cures through the renewed focus on and funding of personalized medicine.

Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Denver, will be the lead Democratic sponsor on soon-to-be-drafted legislation being carried by Rep. Fred Upton, R-Michigan, tentatively titled the 21st Century Cures initiative.

Upton, the outgoing chairman of the powerful House Committee on Energy and Commerce, is looking to draw up legacy legislation later this year that can be introduced early in the next Congress.

The sponsors hope to increase funding for scientific research and to find additional ways to get potential cures into the nation's healthcare system.

"We need to improve the way we do biomedical research in this country to get it from the lab to the clinics so we can get cures more quickly to the patients," DeGette said Wednesday following a meeting convened at Denver's National Jewish Health that drew senior research officials from the National Institute of Health and the Food and Drug Administration.

During the roundtable discussion Wednesday, top medical researchers spoke about the barriers they face.

A lack of funding was cited often, as was the resulting high cost of many top drugs designed to fight cancer and other diseases.

"No matter how good a drug is, if patients can't afford it, it becomes less useful," said Dr. Gregory Downey, an executive vice president at National Jewish.

Stakeholders also spoke about the importance of personalized medicine, assessing patients individually and figuring out which medication will improve chances for recovery and avoiding those that might put the patient at increased risk.

"Each year over 100,000 North Americans are hospitalized … because of adverse reactions to drugs," Downey said.

Adam Johnson, a lung cancer survivor, said the chemotherapy drugs he had to take almost killed him; he expressed optimism that legislation could make things easier for patients and lower healthcare costs overall.

"With personalized medicine, I wouldn't have had to go through as much chemotherapy as I had to go through," Johnson said. "I think it's an incredible endeavor."