WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has signed into law legislation that makes new investments in cancer research and battling drug abuse.
Obama signed the bill at a ceremony on the White House campus flanked by Vice President Joe Biden and key lawmakers.
The 21st Century Cures Act invests $1.8 billion for a cancer research “moonshot” that is strongly supported by Biden. The vice president’s son Beau died of brain cancer in 2015.
The bill also authorizes giving states $1 billion over two years to prevent and treat the abuse of opioids and other addictive drugs like heroin.
Overall, the measure plans $6.3 billion in new spending over the coming decade. The bill also streamlines the approval process for drugs and medical devices at the Food and Drug Administration.
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Is the problem with cancer research that we’re just not spending enough money?
I went to one of the Moonshot meetings a few months ago. The idea of that was to get a ton of different stakeholders in a room together and see what came of it. There were researchers, doctors, nurses, insurance reps, former and current cancer patients, fundraisers, awareness raisers all brainstorming. It wasn’t supposed to be just pouring dribs and drabs of money into the problem, it was to pour a shit ton of money into a few big ideas that could maybe work but needed a lot more support than “regular” research grants would bring in.
Now, I haven’t heard of anything coming of that meeting since then, but it was a very inspiring day. I still applaud the idea and the effort.