News Briefs

NORD Representatives
Address Congress

Access to Life-saving Medicines Act of 2007

NORD member Mary Nathan (shown with Congressman Henry Waxman) volunteered to present testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in March. She spoke on behalf of the Access to Life-saving Medicines Act of 2007, which NORD supports. This Act would create a pathway for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to review lower cost or “follow-on” biologic products after the patents on medications expire.

It was introduced by Congressman Waxman (D-CA) in the U.S. House of Representatives and by Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Hilary Clinton (D-NY) in the Senate. Sponsors include Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO), Mac Thornberry (R-TX) and Peter Hoekstra (R-MI) in the House and Norm Coleman (R-MN), and Susan Collins (R-ME) in the Senate.

Pediatric Medical Device Safety and Improvement Act

A member of NORD’s Medical Advisory Committee, Robert Campbell, Jr., MD, testified recently before the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee on the topic, “Ensuring Safe Medicines and Medical Devices for Children”.

Dr. Campbell’s testimony was in support of the Pediatric Medical Device Safety and Improvement Act (S. 830), introduced recently by Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT). “This bill will help children get the safe medical and surgical devices they need by strengthening safety requirements and encouraging research, development, and manufacture of pediatric devices,” Dr. Campbell said. An orthopedic surgeon affiliated with the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, Dr. Campbell described his own experiences in developing a device for pediatric use known as the titanium rib.

Read Mary Nathan's testimony