Each week, I sit down and meet with all different types of health groups that visit Washington to advocate on behalf of what is important to them. I hear stories from children, teenagers, adults, and the elderly about how important medical research funding is to them and their well-being.

This week, the House debated, and ultimately passed, the 21^st Century Cures Act. This legislation covers the full cycle of discovery, development, and delivery of new treatments and cures by delivering $10 billion in new resources for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) over the next five years. Moreover, this bill goes even further by providing the FDA with necessary resources, incentivizing the testing of mainstream drugs to treat rare diseases and pediatric cancers, helps new scientists being their careers in research, encourages improvements to our country’s drug and medical device approval process, allows for greater communication between scientists, researchers, and caregivers, and provides for the priority review of new breakthrough devices.

There are 10,000 known diseases, and unfortunately, we only have cures and treatments for 500 of them. The 21^st Century Cures Act would knock down barriers that are in the way so the NIH can tap into additional resources and eventually help all people affected by the 10,000 diseases.

Additionally, did you know that today it takes 15 years for a new drug to move from the lab to your local pharmacy? This legislation modernizes clinical trials which will expedite the development of new drugs and devices.

This comprehensive legislation paves the way for new advances in the health-care world. That is something that is long sought after in the medical and health industries. With passage of the 21^st Century Cures Act, the next time I meet with these individuals, I will proudly be able to say the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed legislation that increases United States competitiveness in the biomedical field, and keeps more of our jobs and medical professionals working on new cures and treatments.