Democratic Senator of Massachusetts Elizabeth Warren contends the $6.3 billion bipartisan 21st Century Cures Act has been "hijacked" by the pharmaceutical industry and has vowed to fight against it, according to STAT.
The legislation, which would increase funding for medical research and expand mental health services in the states, would also ease standards for new drugs and medical devices, according to STAT. It is heading for a possible vote in the house this week.
Sen. Warren accused Republican legislators of trying to extort Democrats by tying additional funds for medical research to the bill. "I cannot vote for this bill," she said on the Senate floor, according to STAT. "I will fight it because I know the difference between compromise and extortion."
Republicans say the bill will support healthcare innovation. Numerous patient advocacy groups have campaigned for the passage of the Cures Act, while other public health groups have raised questions about whether it was constructed to support patients or drug and device companies, which have bemoaned the burdensome regulatory requirements imposed by the FDA. More than 1,300 lobbyists have pushed for the bill's passage, according to the report.
Among Sen. Warren's criticisms of the bill, she called the proposed plan to provide the National Institutes of Health $4.8 billion over 10 years a "fig leaf."
"And most of that fig leaf isn't even real," she said, according to the report. "Most of the money won't really be there unless future Congresses pass future bills in future years to spend those dollars."
While Sen. Warren supported some of the Cures Act's provision, she called others "huge giveaways" to the pharmaceutical industry, such as one that would roll back requirements to report payments from drug companies under the Sunshine Act. She described another measure that would allow drug companies to market drugs for unapproved uses as legalized fraud.