Walden hails House OK of childhood cancer prevention bill

Continuing his efforts to boost medical research and treatments for patients across the country, Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., supported comprehensive childhood cancer legislation as it won unanimous House approval Tuesday.

Walden joined a bipartisan group of lawmakers in sending the Childhood Cancer Survivorship, treatment, Access, and Research (STAR) Act to the President’s desk, the congressman said in a news release.

“Being told your child has cancer is every parent’s worst nightmare. Even though childhood cancer is rare, it is still the second leading cause of death in children ages 1 to 14,” Walden said during a speech on the House floor.

“By reauthorizing and modifying the National Childhood Cancer Registry; supporting childhood cancer biorepositories; improving the tracking of cancer in children, adolescents, and young adults; and supporting efforts to improve the pediatric cancer survivorship care, the STAR Act will improve both treatment of children currently battling cancer and the quality of life for the young survivors who have beaten this terrible disease.”

The Childhood Cancer STAR Act is the most comprehensive childhood cancer legislation ever taken up by Congress, which will help advance both research and treatments for pediatric cancer. The bipartisan bill reauthorizes and modifies the National Childhood Cancer Registry and establishes programs for pediatric cancer survivors.

The Childhood Cancer STAR Act will support the collection of donated biospecimens from children, adolescents, and young adults with cancer along with demographic information, create pilot programs to develop and evaluate systems for monitoring and providing treatment for cancer survivors, and provide grants to state to improve childhood cancer registries.

Following the landmark 21 st Century Cures Act – which Walden helped pass into law – the Childhood Cancer STAR Act will further efforts to discover, develop, and deliver new cures and treatments for those suffering from cancer. During his speech in support of the STAR Act, Walden said this bipartisan bill will be crucial to saving lives.

“This is good work we are doing today in a bipartisan way in the United States House of Representatives. We will save lives. We will help families. And, especially, we will help these children who are suffering mightily,” said Walden.

Specifically, the Childhood Cancer STAR Act will:

Authorize $30 million a year through FY 2023 for grants to support the National Childhood Cancer Registry
Authorize the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to make awards to support childhood cancer biorepositories available to health care professionals and scientific researchers.
Authorize the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to award grants to state cancer registries to enhance and expand infrastructure to track the epidemiology of cancer in children, adolescents, and young adults.
Require at least one individual with experience in pediatric oncology to be included on the National Cancer Advisory Board.

Require the Director of National Institutes of Health (NIH) to ensure that childhood cancer research projects conducted or supported by NIH are included in the appropriate reports to Congress, which may include reports regarding the Pediatric Research Initiative.

Allow the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to make grants establishing pilot programs to develop, study, or evaluate model systems to improve the quality and efficiency of care for childhood cancer survivors and to improve the coordination of care as survivors transition to adult care.

Require the Secretary to conduct a review and report to Congress on the Department’s activities related to workforce development for health care providers who treat pediatric cancer patients and survivors.

Allow the NIH Director to make grants to entities to conduct or support research relating to pediatric cancer survivors.

Allow the Secretary to identify best practices for quality childhood cancer survivorship care in consultation with experts in late effects of disease and treatment of childhood cancers.

Walden also led House passage Tuesday of S. 204, the Tricket Wendler, Frank Mongiello, Jordan McLinn, and Matthew Bellina Right to Try Act of 2018. This legislation previously passed the Senate on August 3, 2017.

S. 204 aims to improve access to investigational treatments for patients with terminal diseases or conditions. In March 2018, the House passed H.R. 5247, its own version of “Right to Try,” by a bipartisan vote of 267-149.

“Today’s vote is a beacon of hope for the patients who are desperately seeking the ‘right to try’ investigational treatments and therapies. While some Senate Democrats want to block vulnerable patients from accessing investigative drugs, we refuse to let them delay any longer,” said Walden and Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee Chairman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-TX).

“With the House’s bipartisan support of this bill today, Congress will send groundbreaking ‘Right to Try’ legislation to President Trump’s desk. We look forward to working with the Trump Administration, who have been staunch advocates for this important policy, and the Food and Drug Administration to ensure this soon-to-be law is carried out effectively.”