A Capitol Hill Briefing
The Blueprint of Medical Research:
How New Medicines Get from the Lab to the Patient
Wednesday, February 6, 2013, 12:00pm- 1:30pm
Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room 106, Washington, DC
Participants:
N. Anthony Coles, M.D., M.P.H., President, CEO, and Chairman, Onyx Pharmaceuticals
Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D., Director, National Institutes of Health
Margaret Hamburg, M.D., Commissioner, U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Michael Milken, Chairman and Founder, FasterCures
Ellen V. Sigal, Ph.D., Chairperson and Founder, Friends of Cancer Research
Moderator: Margaret Anderson, Executive Director, FasterCures
Lunch will be served. This is a widely attended event.
Summary:
Turning a scientific discovery into a safe and effective therapy could take nearly 14 years and more than $1 billion. And yet this medical research and development (R&D) process, with high risk and rate of failure, is the only hope for 1 in 3 Americans suffering from cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, heart disease, and other diseases for which there are still no cures – and, in many cases, few meaningful treatment options.
Improving and accelerating the R&D path requires all stakeholders in the medical research ecosystem to work together, including key federal agencies like the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration; the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and medical device industries; academia; and patient-driven research and advocacy groups.
This briefing is designed to educate and orient members of Congress, legislative staff, and advocates about the vital role federal agencies and the medical research sector play in advancing medical progress. This includes:
The breadth, depth and scope of the research funded by the NIH and how this translates into better health outcomes;
The essential role of the FDA in advancing science and ensuring that patients can access life-saving therapies that are safe and effective;
The distinct roles these federal agencies, industry, academia, and patient groups can play on their own, and in collaboration with each other, to speed up the time it takes to get new medicines from the lab to the patient.
