WASHINGTON, The U.S. Senate passed the FDA Reauthorization Act and with it, the RACE for Children Act. Now, new cancer drugs will be developed not only for adults – but for kids too.  With the RACE for Children Act as law:

Kids with cancer will have many more novel drugs and clinical trials open to them.

Pediatric oncologists will have new information about which cancer drugs might help their kids, what the dosage of the drugs should be, and whether the drugs are safe.

Companies developing cancer drugs will, as standard practice, plan to develop their drugs for kids with cancer.

There are some 900 drugs in the pipeline for adult cancers, but few are ever studied for children. Kids v Cancer began developing solutions to this problem in 2013. In 2014, they drafted the KIDS Innovative Drugs Act, which was introduced in 2016 as the RACE for Children Act (RACE). RACE updates the Pediatric Research Equity Act (PREA) to authorize the FDA to require companies developing cancer drugs for adults to also develop the drugs for children with cancer.

Senator Rubio said, “I’m pleased that while there are many things we have not done, we will leave here tomorrow or next week knowing that at least we did one thing that will matter, and it’s an important thing because these children that we’re trying to help, they do not have time to continue waiting for us to step up and take action.”

Senator Bennet stated, “Today’s passage of the RACE for Children Act is a breakthrough for kids in Colorado and around the country fighting cancer.  This legislation will open the door for cutting-edge treatments and precision medicines that could make all the difference for kids battling this devastating disease.”

On July 12, RACE passed on House floor as part of the FDA Reauthorization Act, and on August 3, RACE passed on the Senate floor as part of the FDA Reauthorization Act. Now, it’s on to the President’s desk for signature.

This is a key step toward changing the landscape of pediatric cancer research.

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