Earlier today, we took a look back at the #Path2Cures and highlighted some of the most pivotal elements of the landmark 21^st Century Cures Act. Today, on the one-year anniversary of its enactment, plenty of folks have joined the chorus to help explain the gravity of this law or to explain what it means to patients.

Opinion: One Year Later — Why 21st Century Cures Still Matters
By Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI) and Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO)
December 12, 2017

One year ago this week, President Obama signed into law one of the most consequential bills passed by the 114th Congress: the landmark, bipartisan 21st Century Cures Act. He took the occasion of his final public bill-signing to praise the measure as a prime example of how important legislation should be passed: through consultation with stakeholders, deliberation, hearings featuring expert testimony, drafting and redrafting, and a spirit of collegiality and compromise.

When we started the process of crafting 21st Century Cures — or Cures — four years ago, we began with one goal in mind: helping patients and their families. We were both inspired to act after hearing from folks in the research community as well as patients, families and advocates who all told us about the need for modernization and more resources at the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration so that the United States could remain the worldwide leader in medical innovation and find the next generation of medical cures and clues. …

Click HERE to read the full column online.

Upton: Cures Act is making a difference
December 13, 2017

U.S. Rep. Fred Upton sat in the capitol building Monday afternoon looking at the pen President Barack Obama used to sign a bill hailed as the most important piece of legislation signed last year.

The bill was the 21st Century Cures Act, sponsored by Upton, that was signed into law a year ago today.

“We can say we really made a difference for virtually every American. There isn’t a family I know that isn’t affected by some sort of disease,” Upton, R-St. Joseph, said in a phone interview. “This is a huge first down to conquer these diseases.”

The Cures Act gave $6.3 billion to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to work on health research. …

Click HERE to read the full article online.

21^st Century Cures: One Year Later

Click HERE to watch the clip.

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