News

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and Cory Gardner (R-CO) today reintroduced the RACE for Children Act (Research to Accelerate Cures and Equity for Children Act), legislation supporting the development of innovative and promising cancer drugs for children. U.S. Representatives Michael T. McCaul (R-TX), G. K. Butterfield (D-NC), Sean Duffy (R-WI), and Yvette Clarke (D-NY) introduced the companion bill in the House.

“Pediatric cancer impacts too many families in Florida and across the nation, including my own,” said Rubio. “I am proud to reintroduce the RACE for Children Act, which would encourage more treatment options for children battling against cancer. This bill ‎takes a further step in extending medical advances in adult cancer treatment to children fighting this horrific disease. I am especially honored to reintroduce this bill on behalf ‎of the many advocates who have relentlessly fought to get more attention, funding and resources for childhood cancer. I look forward to continuing my work with them to make this crucial legislation a law.”

“In Colorado and around the country, researchers are making dramatic advances to treat and cure cancer, but there is even more we can do for our kids,” said Bennet. “This legislation is a necessary update to our laws and has the potential to save thousands of children’s lives. I look forward to continue working with parents, researchers, and other advocates to advance this bill to expand treatment options for children.” ‎

The bipartisan bill, first introduced in the 114^th Congress, would update the Pediatric Research Equity Act (PREA) to reflect the latest advances in cancer drugs. PREA was enacted by Congress in 2003 to address the scarcity of information about how to treat children with drugs developed for adults, and therefore develop pediatric data during drug development. Although PREA has resulted in new information on how to treat children for a multitude of drugs over the years, there are still limited pediatric studies for cancer drugs

The bill is supported by Florida’s Nemours Children’s Health System, the Children’s Hospital Colorado, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Children’s Medical Center of Dallas, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Duke University Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, NYU Langone Medical Center, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Texas Children’s Hospital, and more than 100 pediatric cancer advocacy organizations.