Kids v Cancer is urging Congress to pass the Creating Hope Reauthorization Act (S. 4010), which would permanently reauthorize the pediatric voucher program.
The pediatric priority review voucher program encourages the development of new drugs for seriously ill children, including children with cancer, by providing a voucher to pharmaceutical companies which develop such drugs. Vouchers can be used to expedite FDA approval for any other future drug, which allows those future drugs to reach markets faster.
The pediatric voucher program will sunset if Congress does not approve the act by September 30, “ending a critical incentive program for the development of drugs for kids with life threatening illnesses,” Nancy Goodman, executive director of Kids v Cancer, said in a statement.
Bob Casey (D-PA) and Susan Collins (R-ME) introduced the bill to the Senate. G.K. Butterfield and Michael McCaul introduced the Creating Hope Reauthorization Act in the House in September 2019 (H.R. 4439).
The rare pediatric priority review voucher program has resulted in 22 novel therapies for seriously ill children, and in over one billion dollars of incentives for companies to develop rare pediatric disease drugs with no cost to consumers or taxpayers, Goodman said.
“The Children’s Oncology Group is highly supportive of the impact that the Creating Hope Reauthorization Act brings to the care of children with cancer,” Doug Hawkins, chair of the Children’s Oncology Group, said in a statement. “There remains a significant need to focus effort on making better medicines more available for all children and the pediatric voucher program plays an instrumental role in this effort.”