I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2033 

To authorize and support psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis data collection, 

to express the sense of the Congress to encourage and leverage public 

and private investment in psoriasis research with a particular focus 

on interdisciplinary collaborative research on the relationship between 

psoriasis and its comorbid conditions, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 26, 2011 

Mr. GERLACH (for himself and Mr. GONZALEZ) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To authorize and support psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis 

data collection, to express the sense of the Congress 

to encourage and leverage public and private investment 

in psoriasis research with a particular focus on interdisciplinary collaborative research on the relationship between psoriasis and its comorbid conditions, and for 

other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Psoriasis and Psoriatic 

5 Arthritis Research, Cure, and Care Act of 2011’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) Psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis are auto4 immune, chronic, inflammatory, painful, and dis5 abling diseases that require lifelong timely and ap6 propriate medical intervention and care and have no 

7 cure. 

8 (2) Current studies indicate that the prevalence 

9 of psoriasis in the United States ranges between two 

10 and three percent, affecting approximately 7.5 mil11 lion men, women, and children of all ages, approxi12 mately 17,000 individuals in each congressional dis13 trict, and has an adverse impact on the quality of 

14 life for virtually all affected. 

15 (3) Psoriasis often is overlooked or dismissed 

16 because it is not typically a direct cause of death. 

17 Psoriasis is commonly and incorrectly considered by 

18 insurers, employers, policymakers, and the public as 

19 a mere annoyance—a superficial problem, mistak20 enly thought to be contagious, due to poor hygiene, 

21 or both. As such, treatment for psoriasis is often in22 correctly categorized as ‘‘cosmetic’’ and not ‘‘medi23 cally necessary’’. 

24 (4) Psoriasis is connected with an elevated risk 

25 for other serious, chronic, and life-threatening co26 morbid conditions, including cardiovascular disease, 


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1 diabetes, stroke, and cancer. A higher prevalence of 

2 stroke, atherosclerosis, chronic obstructive pul3 monary disease (COPD), Crohn’s disease, lympho4 ma, metabolic syndrome, and liver disease are also 

5 found in people with psoriasis as compared to the 

6 general population. Up to 30 percent of people with 

7 psoriasis also develop potentially disabling psoriatic 

8 arthritis. 

9 (5) The National Institute of Mental Health 

10 (NIMH) funded a study that found that psoriasis 

11 may cause as much physical and mental disability as 

12 other major chronic diseases, including cancer, ar13 thritis, hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, and de14 pression. 

15 (6) Psoriasis is associated with elevated rates of 

16 depression, anxiety, and suicidality (suicidal 

17 thoughts, suicide attempts, and completed suicides). 

18 Individuals with psoriasis are twice as likely to have 

19 thoughts of suicide as people without psoriasis or 

20 with other chronic conditions. 

21 (7) The risk of premature death is 50 percent 

22 higher for people with severe psoriasis. This trans23 lates to people with severe psoriasis dying four years 

24 earlier, on average, than people without psoriasis. 


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1 (8) The economic consequences of psoriasis, 

2 both for individuals and the health care system, are 

3 significant. Total direct and indirect health care 

4 costs of psoriasis are calculated at $11,250,000,000 

5 with work loss accounting for 40 percent of the cost 

6 burden. People with psoriasis have significantly 

7 higher health care resource utilization and costs 

8 than the general population. Additionally, psoriasis 

9 patients with comorbidities are more likely to experi10 ence urgent care, have greater rates of hospitaliza11 tion, more frequent outpatient visits, and incur 

12 greater costs than psoriasis patients without 

13 comorbidities. 

14 (9) Early diagnosis and treatment of psoriatic 

15 arthritis may help prevent irreversible joint damage. 

16 (10) Treating psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis 

17 presents a challenge for patients and their health 

18 care providers. A wide range of treatment options is 

19 available; however, adverse side effects and success 

20 varies from patient to patient. The same treatments 

21 do not work for every patient and a treatment that 

22 may have been effective for a period of time can stop 

23 working. 

24 (11) Despite a number of recent breakthroughs 

25 that have led to some new treatments, too many peoVerDate Mar 15 2010 05:58 Jun 02, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2033.IH H2033

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1 ple with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis still cannot 

2 live normal lives. For many of these individuals, ex3 isting treatments are not effective or appropriate or 

4 may not be accessible due to cost and insurance bar5 riers. 

6 (12) Psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis constitute 

7 a significant national health issue that deserves a 

8 comprehensive and coordinated response by States 

9 and the Federal Government with involvement of the 

10 health care provider, patient, and public health com11 munities. 

12 SEC. 3. NATIONAL PSORIASIS AND PSORIATIC ARTHRITIS 

13 DATA COLLECTION. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 

15 Human Services, acting through the Director of the Cen16 ters for Disease Control and Prevention, is authorized to 

17 undertake psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis data collection 

18 efforts, including incorporating questions into public 

19 health surveys, questionnaires, and other databases in ex20 istence as of the date of the enactment of this Act to col21 lect information, with respect to psoriasis and psoriatic ar22 thritis, regarding— 

23 (1) the prevalence of psoriasis and psoriatic ar24 thritis in the United States; 

25 (2) the age of onset; 


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1 (3) health-related quality of life; 

2 (4) health care utilization; 

3 (5) burden of such disease (such as with respect 

4 to employment); 

5 (6) direct and indirect costs; 

6 (7) health disparities, including with respect to 

7 age, gender, race, and ethnicity; and 

8 (8) comorbidities and the natural history of 

9 such disease. 

10 Such data collection efforts may include the consideration 

11 and development of a patient registry, which would include 

12 individuals of all ages. 

13 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To carry 

14 out subsection (a), there are authorized to be appropriated 

15 $1,500,000 for each of fiscal years 2012 through 2017. 

16 SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS FOR COLLABORATIVE INTER17 DISCIPLINARY RESEARCH ON PSORIASIS AND 

18 PSORIATIC ARTHRITIS AND COMORBID CON19 DITIONS. 

20 It is the sense of the Congress that— 

21 (1) the psoriasis research community has made 

22 significant strides in proving the seriousness of pso23 riasis as an autoimmune disease and in advancing 

24 the identification of commonalities between psoriasis 

25 and other diseases; 


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1 (2) the nonprofit and private sector psoriasis 

2 research communities are to be commended for plan3 ning a multidisciplinary scientific meeting in 2012 to 

4 discuss future directions of psoriasis and comorbid 

5 research, identify initiatives necessary to fill any 

6 gaps, leverage public and private investments in pso7 riasis research, and facilitate progress in inter8 disciplinary research related to psoriasis and its co9 morbid conditions; 

10 (3) the National Institutes of Health is encour11 aged to continue to work with the organizations and 

12 private sector stakeholders who convene the multi13 disciplinary scientific meeting to discuss future di14 rections of psoriasis and comorbid research; 

15 (4) the nonprofit and private sector meeting 

16 conveners should disseminate to the public, Con17 gress, and other relevant public and private policy18 making and research entities a report that includes 

19 findings from the scientific meeting and suggestions 

20 regarding next steps, including recommendations 

21 from the National Institutes of Health and other rel22 evant Federal agencies; and 

23 (5) utilizing the information produced by the 

24 scientific meeting regarding future directions of pso25 riasis and comorbid research, the Secretary of 


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1 Health and Human Services, acting through the Di2 rector of the National Institutes of Health, and in 

3 conjunction with the National Institute for Arthritis, 

4 Musculoskeletal, and Skin Diseases and other insti5 tutes and centers of the National Institutes of 

6 Health, is encouraged to explore the development of 

7 a virtual Center of Excellence for Collaborative Dis8 covery in Psoriasis and Comorbid Research or some 

9 other mechanism through which public and private 

10 sector findings regarding psoriasis and its comorbid 

11 conditions can be regularly shared and leveraged. 

Æ 


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