Alexander: New FDA Cancer Center Brings “Exactly the Kind of Coordination Necessary” to Get More Individualized Treatments and Cures to Patients

WASHINGTON, D.C., June 29 – Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today said Vice President Biden’s announcement of a new Oncology Center of Excellence at the Food and Drug Administration brings “exactly the kind of coordination necessary” to get more individualized treatments and cures to patients.

“This new center of excellence is exactly the kind of FDA coordination the Senate health committee voted for by a wide margin this spring – because this coordination is necessary to getting more individualized treatments and cures into the hands of oncologists and their patients. The critical next step is to turn 21^st Century Cures into law without delay and provide a surge of funding for the vice president’s moonshot to defeat cancer, and also drive more innovation and improvement at the FDA.”

In March, Alexander and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the top Democrat on the Senate health committee, introduced legislation to encourage the Food and Drug Administration to improve coordination between its different centers to allow scientists focused on treatments and cures for a particular disease to better share information. The legislation was passed by the Senate health committee in April as part of the committee’s Cures effort to more rapidly bring safe and effective treatments and cures to American patients. 

###