US Senate passes short term agreement for cures for children with rare diseases
The US Senate recently passed legislation that will prolong a program that will allow treatments and cures to be administered to children with rare diseases.
Both of Georgias US Senators voted in favor of the legislation.
The agreement permits the Food and Drug Administrations Pediatric Rare Disease Priority Review Voucher Program to continue through the end of 2016 without interruption. Part of the program allows for incentives for research and development of various life-saving treatments for pediatric diseases. If a company develops a drug for one of these diseases, and its approved, the company gets a voucher they can keep or sell that will speed up the review of another drug.
According to a press release from the Office of Senator Johnny Isakson, he spoke on the Senate floor Wednesday to urge support for his legislation, the Advancing Hope Act, and to share a story about Alexa Rohrbach, a young Georgian suffering from a rare cancer who came to see Isakson in 2004 to ask for his help in finding a cure. Rohrbach passed away in 2008, but Isakson said that her memory is a reminder of why getting a result on bills like this one is as critical as anything we could ever do in the United States Senate.
Read more: http://evans.allongeorgia.com/us-senate-passes-short-term-agreement-for-cures-for-children-with-rare-diseases/