Creating Hope Act (S. 606 and H.R. 3059)

The development of drugs for pediatric cancer is terribly inadequate — in the last 20 years, there have been almost no drugs developed specifically for childhood cancers and other rare pediatric diseases. Today, children with cancer receive adult “hand-me-down” drugs in higher doses than adults receive. These drugs cause life-threatening toxicities in four out of five patients during treatment.



The Creating Hope Act would encourage the creation of new drugs for pediatric cancer and other rare diseases by providing market incentives, in the form of a priority review voucher, to pharmaceutical companies that develop the drugs. The Creating Hope Act does not require a federal appropriation (taxpayer funding).



The Creating Hope Act is a bipartisan bill supported by Democrats and Republicans. It was introduced in the U.S. Senate by Senators Robert Casey (D-PA), Scott Brown (R-MA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Al Franken (D-MN), and Johnny Isakson (R-GA), on March 17, 2011. A companion bill was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on September 22, 2011, by Representatives Michael McCaul (R-TX), G.K. Butterfield (D-NC), and Sue Myrick (R-NC).



Ask your members of Congress to support the Creating Hope Act!