I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1128 
To establish the National Center on Liver Disease Research, and for other 
purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 23, 2009 
Mr. LYNCH (for himself and Mr. KING of New York) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To establish the National Center on Liver Disease Research, 
and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Liver Research En-
hancement Act of 2009’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds as follows: 
(1) An estimated 30,000,000 people in the 
United States are affected by a liver or liver-related 
disease. 
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(2) In excess of $15,000,000,000 is spent annu-
ally to provide medical care for people in the United 
States with hepatitis C. This cost is projected to 
grow substantially over the next decade without a 
vaccine, cure, or the discovery of better treatments. 
(3) There are over 5,000,000 people in the 
United States who are or have been infected with 
hepatitis C, 3,200,000 of whom are chronically in-
fected. 
(4) Due to limited research, current treatments 
for hepatitis B and C are effective in approximately 
50 percent of the cases. 
(5) A vaccine has not been developed for hepa-
titis C. 
(6) There are 10,000 to 12,000 deaths each 
year due to hepatitis C, and the annual death total 
is projected to triple absent increased public health 
and research interventions. 
(7) Hepatitis C is the leading cause of death 
among people co-infected with HIV. 
(8) Chronic hepatitis B and C affect over 6 mil-
lion Americans with nearly half of those individuals 
unaware of their infection. 
(9) Chronic infection with hepatitis B or C is 
associated with an increased incidence of primary 
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liver cancer in the United States, the fastest growing 
cancer in incidence, despite a decline in most other 
types of cancers. 
(10) There are 1,400,000 people in the United 
States who have been infected with hepatitis B, and 
1 out of 4 individuals with chronic hepatitis B will 
die prematurely from end-stage liver disease or liver 
cancer. 
(11) One out of 10 Asian and Pacific-Islander 
Americans are chronically infected with hepatitis B, 
and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
has reported a reduction in long-term protection 
from the current hepatitis B vaccines. 
(12) It is estimated that as many as 20 percent 
of Americans have fatty liver disease which can lead 
to cirrhosis and liver failure. 
(13) There are 15,000 children hospitalized in 
the United States each year due to liver disease. 
(14) The only option for many individuals with 
advanced or chronic liver disease is a liver trans-
plant. 
(15) Approximately 17,000 people in the United 
States are on the waiting list for a liver transplant, 
but because of the limited supply of livers available 
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