Murray and Burr Introduce Legislation to Establish New Authority for Cutting-Edge Biomedical Research

Murray: “There’s no question this pandemic would have been worse if we didn’t have the benefit of years of medical research that happened long before it began… It’s important we take that lesson to heart as we work to better prepare for future public health threats.”

Burr: “By working as an independent entity within the structure of the NIH, ARPA-H will have the ability to identify and invest in the best new ideas and technologies coming from the private sector and academia.”

Washington, D.C. – Today, Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chair, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), and Ranking Member, Senator Richard Burr (R-NC), introduced the ARPA-H Act which would establish the Advanced Research Projects Authority for Health (ARPA-H), which would be housed in the National Institutes of Health and support cutting-edge, high-reward biomedical research. This new agency, originally proposed in President Biden’s fiscal year 2022 budget, and funded in the recently announced omnibus, would focus on transforming and advancing areas of biomedicine that cannot readily be accomplished through traditional research or commercial activity, as well as develop transformative technologies in an effort to improve the prevention, diagnosis, mitigation, treatment, and cure of health conditions.

“There’s no question this pandemic would have been worse if we didn’t have the benefit of years of medical research that happened long before it began. Recent breakthroughs laid the groundwork that made it possible for us to develop safe, effective vaccines and treatments in record time and save countless lives. It’s important we take that lesson to heart as we work to better prepare for future public health threats,” said Chair Murray. “That’s why I worked with Senator Burr on this bipartisan legislation to strengthen and support cutting-edge, biomedical advanced research by establishing the Advanced Research Projects Authority for Health as first proposed by President Biden. I look forward to continuing to work in a bipartisan way to pass this legislation as part of our larger efforts to strengthen our nation’s public health and medical preparedness and response systems in the PREVENT Pandemics Act.”

“One of the greatest successes to come out of the pandemic was the federal government’s partnership with the private sector to deliver life-saving vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics with unprecedented speed,” said Ranking Member Burr. “The question now is how to create an environment that remains focused on emerging new technologies and can help accelerate the development of those it deems most beneficial to advancing biomedicine and improving health. By working as an independent entity within the structure of the NIH, ARPA-H will have the ability to identify and invest in the best new ideas and technologies coming from the private sector and academia. I’m excited to work with Chair Murray on this important legislation, and I look forward to continuing the Committee’s work to strengthen our nation’s biomedical research and development enterprise.”

The omnibus released this week includes $1 billion to launch ARPA-H.

A one-pager on the ARPA-H Act is available HERE.

Full legislative text is available HERE.

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