On Dec. 13, President Obama signed the 21st Century Cure Act into law. The act was first introduced by Rep. Fred Upton (R-Michigan) more than a year ago, and passed with a vote of 94-5 in the Senate and 392-26 in the House earlier this month. The law will cost a total of $6.3 billion over the next ten years.
What does this new law entail? Here is a quick breakdown:
1. Over $1 billion in grants to fight against the opioid epidemic to provide resources and treatment.
2. Invests $1.8 billion for cancer research, including the "Cancer Moonshot Initiative" championed by Vice President Joe Biden.
3. $1.56 billion for the BRAIN Initiative, a project for mapping the brain by creating new tech.
4.$1.4 billion for the Precision Medicine Initiative, a project to collect genetic data from one million volunteers that will be used to help develop new treatments.
5. Bipartisan mental health policies concerning serious mental health and suicide prevention.
6. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will expand programs for "expedited approval" of medical treatments for patients with limited options.
7. A loan repayment program for health professionals doing research.
8. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) must create an Innovation Prize Program to fund areas of biomedical science that have high possibilities of breakthroughs.
9. Health and Human Services (HHS) must fund research for Lyme Disease and other Tick-Bourne diseases.
10. HHS will be in charge of monitoring the use of antibacterial and antifungal drugs and resistance to them.
