Senator Braun Calls for Patient-Focused Health Care Policies at HELP Hearing
- BY FGA
Naples, FL—Today, Senator Mike Braun (IN) requested that the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee include Americans with rare, life-threatening diseases during the committee’s discussion of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) drug user fee renewal process.
In a letter to the HELP Committee yesterday, Sen. Braun emphasized the need to incorporate patient experiences and perspectives when evaluating health care solutions. “Recognizing the importance of incorporating patient voices in the review and approval of medical products, the FDA, medical industry, and Congress have taken steps to encourage patient-focused drug and device development,” said Sen. Braun. “Integrating patient perspectives with drug development is especially important for patients with rare, lesser known, progressive, and serious disease and conditions…”
Throughout today’s HELP Committee hearing, Sen. Braun continued his emphasis on the need for patient perspectives, pointing specifically to families caring more for solutions that adapt to the ailments of patients while keeping necessary safety standards in place.
Solutions including the Promising Pathway Act (PPA) give patients the ability to work with their doctors to gain early access to promising therapeutic treatments. This bill specifically provides patients with access to promising drugs and accelerates the availability of life-improving medical treatments.
“PPA allows patients access to promising new drugs and biologics that could help alleviate their terminal conditions,” said Robin Walker, Senior Director of Federal Affairs at the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA). “This new pathway puts the patient back in the driver’s seat of his or her health care decisions. Policies like this and the work of lawmakers like Sen. Braun are providing patients and their families with hope for the future.”
PPA would address the critical need for a structured, safe and innovative way to provide hope to patients who don’t have time to wait for urgently needed treatments.
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The Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA) is a non-profit, multi-state think tank that promotes public policy solutions to create opportunities for every American to experience the American Dream. To learn more, visit TheFGA.org.
