Voices applauds U.S. House passage of the National Pediatric Research Network Act

Who says bipartisan legislation can’t pass through Congress in an election year?  The U.S. House did just that on Wednesday, approving an important piece of legislation to provide additional investments in pediatric research.

With broad, bipartisan support, the House voted for the National Pediatric Research Network Act of 2012.  The act would create a National Pediatric Research Network by allowing the director of the National Institutes of Health to provide up to 20 grants for pediatric research consortia to address childhood diseases.  This expanded investment would help accelerate new discoveries and directly impact the health and well-being of children throughout the country.

Despite the fact that children make up nearly 25 percent of the U.S. population, NIH currently dedicates only about five percent of its annual extramural research budget to pediatric research.  If this rate of investment is not expanded, discoveries of new treatments and therapies for some of the most devastating childhood diseases and conditions will be hindered.

Similar, bipartisan legislation has been introduced in the U.S. Senate by Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Roger Wicker (R-MS).  Voices supports more investment in pediatric research before the end of the year, so President Obama can sign it into law.