Walden hails House passage of ’21st Century Cures Act’

The House on Wednesday passed the 21 st Century Cures Act, hailed by sponsor Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., as a sweeping, bipartisan initiative to bring hope to millions of Americans suffering from deadly diseases.

“This really means a lot,” Walden said. “This will make a difference in real people’s lives back home in our communities. And I’ve heard from those people, like Carol Fulkerson in Bend, who has MS. She’s ecstatic about this. She said ‘it’s a great step toward making it possible to find a cure to MS.’ Can you imagine what that means in a person’s life?”

“These are critical reforms and improvements on mental health and substance abuse programs, as we’ve heard. These changes will help people all across America, and certainly in Oregon.”

Of the 10,000 known diseases in the world (7,000 of which are considered rare), there are treatments for only about 500 of them, Walden said. Yet, the cost and time associated with conducting clinical trials are at all-time highs (it takes upwards of 15 years to bring a new drug to the market, and the cost of developing new drugs has doubled since the early 1980s).

This bill would boost medical research and streamline the approval process for new treatments to help accelerate the discovery, development, and delivery of cures.

The 21 st Century Cures Act also brings sweeping reforms to the treatment of drug addiction and mental illness, largely based off of the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act (H.R. 2646), a separate bill Walden co-sponsored that passed the House in July.

Walden has held seven roundtable meetings with patients and health care professionals in southern, central, and eastern Oregon to solicit feedback.

He spoke of input he received from community health providers in Oregon such as Judy Kennedy, Director of Marketing at Interpath Laboratory in Pendleton, who would benefit from this initiative. And Walden talked about Oregonians like Justin Hon and Carol Fulkerson, whose lives will be positively impacted by the hope 21 st Century Cures brings to patients and their families. He concluded by saying, “

We’re going to do so much to improve the health — both mental and physical — of the lives of the people we represent when this legislation becomes law. I think it is an enormous step forward in so many ways.”

The research and technology community in Oregon praised this bill.

“The 21st Century Cures Act is important new legislation that will help our country leverage the benefits of Precision Medicine-based approaches for improved public health, as well as improved efficiency and success rates in the development of new medicines,” said Dr. Adam Carroll, chief science officer of Amplion Inc. in Bend..

“It provides much needed funding to expand the use of these specific, molecular approaches to understanding disease. Furthermore, it provides the framework and funding for speeding up the process of getting these new approaches to the patients that need them most. As a Bend, Oregon-based company, we are enthusiastic about the leadership role that Oregon is taking, both in Congress and in the private sector, in this space. We believe that the changes this Act will encourage will lead to improved public health and profitable medicines,” Carroll said.

Judy Kennedy, director of marketing at Interpath Laboratory in Pendleton praised the provisions advancing precision medicine in the bill.

“Clinical laboratory services are vital to the promise of precision medicine, providing physicians the tools needed to ensure individuals receive the right treatment at the right time,” Kennedy said. ” Community laboratories in Oregon employ a skilled scientific workforce right in the community, bringing the more precise diagnostic testing services to rural and other underserved communities across the state. It is reassuring to know our leaders recognize the devastation and cost of chronic diseases. The funding will put an emphasis on solving this significant burden in the U.S. We are thankful for that.”

Patients in Oregon suffering debilitating diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis and addiction also lauded the initiative, including Fulkerson.

“As a person who has lived with multiple sclerosis for almost 24 years, and having made many friends who also live with MS, I have seen a wide range of issues related to MS,” she said.

“Many people experience a reduced ability to lead their lives independently and have been impacted by lost or reduced income, and needed medical care brings significant increases in health care and medicine costs. The 21st Century Cures Act will benefit a large segment of society, is a great step towards making it possible to find a cure for MS, will improve the quality of life for people who live with MS and their loved ones, and will give researchers access to vital information.”

Justin Hon, a Medford resident, overcame his battle with addiction through a dual diagnosis treatment program that got to the root of his addiction.

“Drug addiction and mental health issues go hand in hand,” Hon said. “My addiction manifested for 20 plus years because I never got the right diagnosis or mental health support early on. It wasn’t until I was an adult with numerous convictions for drugs, and after multiple attempts at treatment, did I finally get the help I needed through dual diagnosis treatment program where they got to the core of my addiction and why I was using drugs. So my opinion is we definitely need a boost in resources to help people in need and to save their lives.”

Walden said. provisions in the 21 st Century Cures Act represent the most significant reforms to the mental health system in more than a decade, including funding for addiction treatment programs like the one that helped Justin overcome his own battle.

This bill represents an agreement between House and Senate leaders. After receiving strong support in the House, this bill now heads to the Senate for final approval, expected in the coming days, the congressmsn said..