Championed the pediatric voucher & RACE for Children Act, cofounded CRGX. Now asking Congress to pass Creating Hope Reauthorization Act & Give Kids a Chance Act.
Kids v Cancer is proud to announce Congress's advancement of Give Kids a Chance Act & Creating Hope Reauthorization Act priority review voucher (PRV) program Kids v Cancer is thrilled to announce the successful vote by the U.S. House of Representative’s Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee to advance not one by two of Kids v Cancer's bills to full Committee: the Give Kids a Chance Act and the Creating Hope Reauthorization Act PRV program. The Subcommittee advanced the bills with a vote of 16-11 to the House of Representatives full Energy and Commerce Committee, with the Creating Hope Reauthorization Act incorporated into the Give Kids a Chance Act. We can't thank our champions enough: Congressman Michael McCaul and Congresswoman Anna Eshoo. We also thank Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Ranking Member Frank Pallone. Next steps are consideration by the U.S. House of Representative’s Energy and Commerce Committee, then a vote of the entire House of Representatives and then on to the Senate. The Give Kids a Chance Act, HR 3433, would authorize the FDA to direct companies with newly approved cancer therapies to study those drugs not only as single drugs, but also in combination with other cancer therapies in children with cancer. This is important because single drug cancer treatments often result in relapses. Cancer cures require multiple therapies. The Give Kids a Chance Act amends the RACE for Children Act, which Kids v Cancer championed to passage to law in 2017. Give Kids a Chance Act has 232 bipartisan cosponsors. The Creating Hope Reauthorization Act, HR 7384, would extend the priority review voucher program, an incentive for companies to develop drugs for kids with rare and life-threatening illnesses. Creating Hope Reauthorization incentives come in forms of vouchers that provide voucher holders rights to faster FDA review for any drug for any disease. Vouchers may be earned by companies that receive FDA approval for a pediatric cancer drug or a drug for other pediatric life-threatening illnesses. Kids v Cancer first championed the program to passage into law in 2012. The program was reauthorized in 2016 and 2020. Unless it’s reauthorized again, the voucher program is due to expire on Sept. 30. Kids v Cancer urges Congress to reauthorize the Creating Hope Act for as long as possible so that the incentive lasts as long as it takes for a drug to be developed. Kids v Cancer will be hosting Climb the Hill days in which children and young adults meet with Members of Congress, in person and by zoom, without parents or other adults. Contact jenn@kidsvcancer.org. A heart-felt "thank you" to all of us, including you, who have worked on and supported these efforts to create incentives for the biotech and pharmaceutical industry to develop new therapies for kids with cancer over the past 15 years, since Jacob died. He would have been 26 this May 21st.