[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 58 (Thursday, May 5, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E899]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E899]]
           INTRODUCTION OF THE CLINICAL RESEARCH ACT OF 2005

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                            HON. DAVE WELDON

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 5, 2005

  Mr. WELDON of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to join with my 
colleague from Pennsylvania, Mr. Doyle to introduce the ``Clinical 
Research Act of 2005.'' This bill will address many of the problems 
confronting our Academic Health Centers as they attempt to leverage the 
enormous biomedical research gains made in the past century, and in the 
past several years in particular as the budget for the National 
Institutes of Health has doubled.
  Breakthroughs in basic biomedical sciences over the past 5 decades, 
including human genomics, biomedical engineering, molecular biology, 
and immunology, have provided an unprecedented supply of information 
for improving human health. As a member of the Labor-HHS-Education 
Appropriations Subcommittee I am proud to say that the remarkable 
strides that have been made in basic science would not have occurred 
without the support of Congress and the general public. While we 
realize that research may not produce results overnight, we, as 
stewards of the taxpayers' dollar have every right to expect that the 
fruits of that research will result in better treatments for patients. 
This requires a federal commitment to clinical research, including a 
commitment to ensuring that the infrastructure is capable of 
translating, in a systemic and rational way, the fruits of basic 
research into improved patient care.
  I, along with many of my colleagues in the Congress and the public in 
general, have become increasingly concerned that we have been too slow 
in getting improved patient therapies and interventions from the 
enormous investment we have made in basic research. The Congress and 
both the Clinton and Bush Administrations made significant commitments 
to doubling the NIH budget. Significant strides and advancements have 
been made in basic research. Unfortunately, I hear on an ongoing basis 
from patient advocacy groups concerned that this significant taxpayer 
investment has not had much direct benefit to those suffering from 
disease. In addition to hearing from patient advocacy groups, I hear 
from my colleagues about the apparent disconnect between the promise of 
basic science and the delivery of better health care for the citizens 
of this country. I believe that we can and should do a better job of 
moving the bench research to the bedside. That is what this bill is 
aimed at doing.
  Without strong Academic Health Centers capable of conducting clinical 
research, the promise of improving the health of the American people 
will continue to elude us.
  Unfortunately, the clinical research environment in the Academic 
Health Centers is encumbered by rising costs, inadequate funding, 
mounting regulatory burdens, fragmented infrastructure, incompatible 
databases, and a shortage of both qualified investigators and willing 
study participants. Without changes to help Academic Health Centers 
meet these challenges, these breakthroughs in basic science will remain 
in the laboratories. Rat after rat will continue to be cured, but due 
to the burdensome costs and the lack of clinical researchers cures for 
humans will not materialize. Let's face it, bench research is less 
burdensome and less costly than applying clinical therapies to human 
beings suffering various diseases. Furthermore, because of the rising 
cost of healthcare delivery and the fiscal pressures weighing on 
academic health centers, many of these physician researchers face 
institutional pressures to spend more and more of their time seeing 
billable patients rather than conducting innovative clinical research. 
The clinical researcher is a diminishing breed, yet they play a vital 
role in bringing cures out of the laboratory to the suffering patient.

  It is also important to recognize that many of the potential cures 
for patients utilize therapies and interventions for which there is not 
a patentable product. In other words, there is no profit motive for 
large corporate backer to invest resources in developing these 
therapies. Without federal support for this clinical research, most of 
these trials and likely cures will remain out of the reach of patients.
  The bill that Representative Doyle and I are introducing today, 
through its clinical research support grants, infrastructure grants, 
and ``partnerships in clinical research'' grants, will provide our 
Nation's Academic Health Centers with the crucial resources they need 
and the opportunity to meet the public's expectations. This bill is 
specifically aimed at improving the translation of this new medical 
science knowledge to directly benefit those suffering from a wide array 
of diseases that impact all too many lives.
  If we are going to reap the benefit of the enormous investment of 
taxpayer dollars in biomedical research it is important that we move 
this legislation forward.
  I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

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