[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3168 Introduced in House (IH)]






109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3168

   To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for Centers for 
 Clinical Discovery through grants from the Director of the Agency for 
                    Healthcare Research and Quality.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 30, 2005

 Mr. Jones of North Carolina introduced the following bill; which was 
            referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for Centers for 
 Clinical Discovery through grants from the Director of the Agency for 
                    Healthcare Research and Quality.

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

SECTION 1. CENTERS FOR CLINICAL DISCOVERY.

    Part B of title IX of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 299b 
et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following section:

``SEC. 918. CENTERS FOR CLINICAL DISCOVERY.

    ``(a) In General.--The Director shall make grants on a competitive 
basis for research centers to accelerate next-generation approaches to 
the development of new therapies and diagnostics by bringing together 
patients, researchers with specialized expertise, and sophisticated 
technologies and basing such development on individual genotypes and 
individual variations in cell and molecular physiology. Each such 
center shall be known as a Center for Clinical Discovery.
    ``(b) Requirements.--The Director may make a grant under subsection 
(a) only if, with respect to the research center involved, the 
following conditions are met:
            ``(1) The application for the grant meets the requirements 
        of section 922 for approval (relating to technical and 
        scientific peer review).
            ``(2) Such center is a collaboration between an academic 
        medical center and one or more nongovernmental entities engaged 
        in the development of therapies and diagnostics, activities 
        supporting such development, and health research.
            ``(3) At least one the of the nongovernmental entities 
        referred to in paragraph (2) has significant current experience 
        in--
                    ``(A) studies in pharmacogenetics, proteomics, 
                metabonomics, biostatistics, clinical chemistry, 
                genomics, advanced imaging technology, and health 
                registries; and
                    ``(B) other longitudinal studies in which clinical 
                and other patient data are collected to assist in 
                research and development of new therapies and 
                diagnostics.
            ``(4) The professionals serving the center include leaders 
        in the fields of health research, health policy, and health-
        outcomes research.
            ``(5) The center is located at an academic medical center.
    ``(c) Initial Grant.--Not later than June 30, 2006, the Director 
shall award one grant under subsection (a), subject to amounts made 
available in appropriations Acts. The Director shall consider the 
research center involved as a demonstration project for purposes of 
such subsection. The Director shall evaluate the project through a 
process, and on the basis of criteria, established by the Director.
    ``(d) Additional Grants.--If the research center operated pursuant 
to subsection (c) meets the criteria of the Director for continued 
support under subsection (a), the Director shall make grants under such 
subsection for additional centers and shall ensure, subject to amounts 
made available in appropriations Acts, that not fewer than four 
research centers are operated under such subsection.
    ``(e) Amount of Grant.--The amount of a grant under subsection (a) 
to any center for a fiscal year shall not exceed $5,000,000.
    ``(f) Authorization of Appropriations.--For the purpose of carrying 
out this section, there are authorized to be appropriated $5,000,000 
for fiscal year 2006, and $25,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2007 
through 2011.''.
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