II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1091

To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for the establishment

of a pediatric research initiative.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MAY 20, 1999

Mr. DEWINE (for himself, Mr. KENNEDY, and Mr. BOND) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on

Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

A BILL

To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for

the establishment of a pediatric research initiative.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Pediatric Research Ini5 tiative Act of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds that—

8 (1) innovations in health care, deriving from

9 scientific investigation of the highest quality, offer
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1 substantial benefits to the well-being of children and

2 savings in health care costs;

3 (2) findings in pediatric research not only pro4 mote and maintain health throughout a child’s life5 span, but also contribute significantly to new in6 sights and discoveries that will aid in the prevention

7 and treatment of illnesses and conditions among

8 adults;

9 (3) the rapidly expanding knowledge base in bi10 ology and medicine is offering greater opportunities

11 than ever for pediatric physician-scientists and basic

12 researchers to harness this knowledge to the benefit

13 of children and society;

14 (4) the relatively smaller number of children

15 compared as to adults and the relative rarity of

16 many of their diseases and conditions has resulted in

17 comparatively fewer resources being devoted to pedi18 atric research and a lesser focus on children’s needs;

19 (5) substantially more of the support for chil20 dren’s health research is provided through the Fed21 eral Government than is the case for adults because

22 of these market forces;

23 (6) a new commitment to invest in children’s

24 research today will make a real difference for chil25 dren tomorrow;
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1 (7) the commitment to invest in children’s re2 search should include not only added investment

3 that is devoted to pediatric research but should also

4 focus on ensuring the existence of a future supply of

5 pediatric physician-scientists;

6 (8) the supply of pediatric physician-scientists

7 is threatened by market demands which provide little

8 room for support for research training for new pedi9 atric physician-scientists;

10 (9) over 60 percent of the pediatric depart11 ments in the United States have no National Insti12 tutes of Health training grant support; and

13 (10) improvements in the level of training grant

14 support is essential to ensuring the existence of fu15 ture generations of pediatric clinical investigators

16 who are responsible for moving research discoveries

17 from the laboratories to the patients, and who are

18 therefore critical to clinical research.

19 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF A PEDIATRIC RESEARCH INI20 TIATIVE.

21 Part A of title IV of the Public Health Service Act

22 (42 U.S.C. 281 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end

23 the following:
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1 ‘‘SEC. 404F. PEDIATRIC RESEARCH INITIATIVE.

2 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall estab3 lish within the Office of the Director of NIH a Pediatric

4 Research Initiative (referred to in this section as the ‘Ini5 tiative’). The Initiative shall be headed by the Director

6 of NIH.

7 ‘‘(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the Initiative is to

8 provide funds to enable the Director of NIH to

9 encourage—

10 ‘‘(1) increased support for pediatric biomedical

11 research within the National Institutes of Health to

12 ensure that the expanding opportunities for advance13 ment in scientific investigations and care for chil14 dren are realized;

15 ‘‘(2) enhanced collaborative efforts among the

16 Institutes to support multidisciplinary research in

17 the areas that the Director deems most promising;

18 and

19 ‘‘(3) the development of adequate pediatric clin20 ical trials and pediatric use information to promote

21 the safer and more effective use of prescription

22 drugs in the pediatric population.

23 ‘‘(c) DUTIES.—In carrying out subsection (b), the Di24 rector of NIH shall—

25 ‘‘(1) consult with the Institute of Child Health

26 and Human Development and the other Institutes,
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1 in considering their requests for new or expanded

2 pediatric research efforts, and consult with other ad3 visors as the Director determines appropriate;

4 ‘‘(2) have broad discretion in the allocation of

5 any Initiative assistance among the Institutes,

6 among types of grants, and between basic and clin7 ical research so long as the—

8 ‘‘(A) assistance is directly related to the ill9 nesses and conditions of children; and

10 ‘‘(B) assistance is extramural in nature;

11 and

12 ‘‘(3) be responsible for the oversight of any

13 newly appropriated Initiative funds and annually re14 port to Congress and the public on the extent of the

15 total extramural support for pediatric research

16 across the NIH, including the specific support and

17 research awards allocated through the Initiative.

18 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION.—To carry out this section,

19 there is authorized to be appropriated in the aggregate,

20 $50,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2000 through

21 2002.

22 ‘‘(e) TRANSFER OF FUNDS.—The Director of NIH

23 may transfer amounts appropriated under this section to

24 any of the Institutes for a fiscal year to carry out the pur25 poses of the Initiative under this section.’’.
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1 SEC. 4. INVESTMENT IN TOMORROW’S PEDIATRIC RE2 SEARCHERS.

3 Subpart 7 of part C of title IV of the Public Health

4 Service Act (42 U.S.C. 285g et seq.) is amended by adding

5 at the end the following:

6 ‘‘SEC. 452E. INVESTMENT IN TOMORROW’S PEDIATRIC RE7 SEARCHERS.

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall make avail9 able within the National Institute of Child Health and

10 Human Development enhanced support for extramural ac11 tivities relating to the training and career development of

12 pediatric researchers.

13 ‘‘(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of support provided

14 under subsection (a) shall be to ensure the future supply

15 of researchers dedicated to the care and research needs

16 of children by providing for—

17 ‘‘(1) an increase in the number and size of in18 stitutional training grants to medical school pedi19 atric departments and children’s hospitals; and

20 ‘‘(2) an increase in the number of career devel21 opment awards for pediatricians building careers in

22 pediatric basic and clinical research.

23 ‘‘(c) AUTHORIZATION.—To carry out this section,

24 there is authorized to be appropriated, $10,000,000 for
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1 fiscal year 2000, $15,000,000 for fiscal year 2001, and

2 $20,000,000 for fiscal year 2002.’’.

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