[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 484 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 484

To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for the establishment 
                  of a pediatric research initiative.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 20, 1997

  Mr. DeWine (for himself, Mr. Kennedy, and Mr. Bond) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                       Labor and Human Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for the establishment 
                  of a pediatric research initiative.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) innovations in health care, deriving from scientific 
        investigation of the highest quality, offer substantial 
        benefits to the well-being of children and savings in health 
        care costs;
            (2) findings in pediatric research not only promote and 
        maintain health throughout a child's lifespan, but also 
        contribute significantly to new insights and discoveries that 
        will benefit the prevention and treatment of illnesses and 
        conditions among adults;
            (3) the knowledge base in biology and medicine is expanding 
        beyond even recent predictions offering the opportunity for 
        basic scientists and pediatricians trained in research to 
        harness this knowledge to the benefit of children and society;
            (4) children are our most valuable resource and yet 
        research funding for this population is the most limited; and
            (5) the search for prevention, cures, and better treatment 
        of children's illnesses calls for a new commitment to invest in 
        children's research today to make a real difference for 
        children tomorrow.

SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF A PEDIATRIC RESEARCH INITIATIVE.

    Part A of title IV of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 281 
et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 404F. PEDIATRIC RESEARCH INITIATIVE.

    ``(a) Establishment.--The Secretary shall establish within the 
Office of the Director of NIH a Pediatric Research Initiative 
(hereafter in this section referred to as the `Initiative'). The 
Initiative shall be headed by the Director of NIH.
    ``(b) Purpose.--The purpose of the Initiative is to provide funds 
to enable the Director of NIH to encourage--
            ``(1) increased support for pediatric biomedical research 
        within the National Institutes of Health to ensure that the 
        expanding opportunities for advancement in scientific 
        investigations and care for children are realized;
            ``(2) enhanced collaborative efforts among the Institutes 
        to support multidisciplinary research in the areas that the 
        Director deems most promising;
            ``(3) increased support for pediatric outcomes and medical 
        effectiveness research to demonstrate how to improve the 
        quality of children's health care while reducing cost;
            ``(4) the development of adequate pediatric clinical trials 
        and pediatric use information to promote the safer and more 
        effective use of prescription drugs in the pediatric 
        population; and
            ``(5) recognition of the special attention pediatric 
        research deserves.
    ``(c) Duties.--In carrying out subsection (b), the Director of NIH 
shall--
            ``(1) consult with the Institutes and other advisors as the 
        Director determines appropriate in the allocation of Initiative 
        funds, including the Institute for Child Health and Human 
        Development;
            ``(2) have broad discretion in the allocation of any 
        Initiative assistance among the Institutes, among types of 
        grants, and between basic and clinical research so long as 
        the--
                    ``(A) assistance is directly related to the 
                illnesses and diseases of children; and
                    ``(B) assistance is extramural in nature; and
            ``(3) be responsible for the oversight of any newly 
        appropriated Initiative funds and be accountable with respect 
        to such funds to Congress and to the public.
    ``(d) Authorization.--To carry out this section, there is 
authorized to be appropriated in the aggregate, $75,000,000 for fiscal 
years 1998 through 2000.
    ``(e) Transfer of Funds.--The Director of NIH may transfer amounts 
appropriated under this section to any of the Institutes for a fiscal 
year to carry out the purposes of the Initiative under this section.''.
                                 <all>