A major bill aimed at getting new drugs to the public faster cleared a key hurdle on Thursday.
A subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee advanced legislation on Thursday related to the 21st Century Cures Act thanks to major bipartisan support.
The bill would provide drugmakers with additional monopolies for their products for six months if the drugs are modified to treat rare diseases.
The bill also would give the National Institutes of Health a mandatory $10 billion in additional funding over the next five years. The research organization was hit hard by lower spending caps in sequestration.
A new version of the bill released on Wednesday appears to have quelled any Democratic opposition. Democrats were previously upset with earlier drafts that gave drugmakers much longer exclusivity.
However, the six-month boost appears to be something Democrats could live with.
The subcommittee also advanced a bill to ban the use of microbeads in consumer products such as toothpaste and body scrubs. The plastic microbeads can wind up in rivers and lakes and become a pollutant.
The full committee will take up both measures, and they are expected to advance to the full House.
