Sec. 701. Lung cancer mortality reduction

1,720 words·~8 min read·/bill/116/s/4819/is/section-701

A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.

This section may be cited as the Lung Cancer Mortality Reduction Act of 2020 . Congress makes the following findings: Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death for both men and women, accounting for 25 percent of all cancer deaths. Lung cancer kills more people annually than breast cancer, prostate cancer, colon cancer, liver cancer, melanoma, and kidney cancer combined. Since the National Cancer Act of 1971 ( Public Law 92–218 ; 85 Stat. 778), coordinated and comprehensive research has raised the 5-year survival rates for breast cancer to 90 percent, for prostate cancer to 99 percent, and for colon cancer to 64 percent.

The 5-year survival rate for lung cancer is still only 18 percent, and a similar coordinated and comprehensive research effort is required to achieve increases in lung cancer survivability rates. Sixty percent of lung cancer cases are now diagnosed in nonsmokers or former smokers. Two-thirds of nonsmokers diagnosed with lung cancer are women. Certain minority populations, such as African-American males, have disproportionately high rates of lung cancer incidence and mortality, despite their smoking rate being similar to other racial groups.

Members of the Baby Boomer Generation are entering their 60s, the most common age at which people develop lung cancer. Tobacco addiction and exposure to other lung cancer carcinogens such as Agent Orange and other herbicides and battlefield emissions are serious problems among military personnel and war veterans. Significant and rapid improvements in lung cancer mortality can be expected through greater use and access to lung cancer screening tests for at-risk individuals. Recent research has shown that screening with low-dose computed tomography scan reduced lung cancer death mortality by 20 percent for those with a high risk of lung cancer through early detection.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services supports annual lung cancer screening for high-risk patients with low-dose computed tomography. Additional strategies are necessary to further enhance the existing tests and therapies available to diagnose and treat lung cancer in the future. The August 2001 Report of the Lung Cancer Progress Review Group of the National Cancer Institute stated that funding for lung cancer research was far below the levels characterized for other common malignancies and far out of proportion to its massive health impact .

The Report of the Lung Cancer Progress Review Group identified as its highest priority the creation of integrated, multidisciplinary, multi-institutional research consortia organized around the problem of lung cancer rather than around specific research disciplines. The United States must enhance its response to the issues raised in the Report of the Lung Cancer Progress Review Group, and this can be accomplished through the establishment of a coordinated effort designed to reduce the lung cancer mortality rate by 50 percent by 2020 and targeted funding to support this coordinated effort.

It is the sense of the Congress that— lung cancer mortality reduction should be made a national public health priority; and a comprehensive mortality reduction program coordinated by the Secretary of Health and Human Services is justified and necessary to adequately address and reduce lung cancer mortality. Subpart 1 of part C of title IV of the Public Health Service Act ( 42 U.S.C. 285 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: Not later than 6 months after the date of the enactment of the Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2020 , the Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, the Director of the National Institutes of Health, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Commissioner of Food and Drugs, the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Director of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, and other members of the Lung Cancer Advisory Board established under section 701 of the Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2020 , shall implement a comprehensive program, to be known as the Lung Cancer Mortality Reduction Program, to achieve a reduction of at least 25 percent in the mortality rate of lung cancer by 2020.

The Program shall include at least the following: With respect to the National Institutes of Health— a strategic review and prioritization by the National Cancer Institute of research grants to achieve the goal of the Lung Cancer Mortality Reduction Program in reducing lung cancer mortality; the provision of funds to enable the Airway Biology and Disease Branch of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to expand its research programs to include predispositions to lung cancer, the interrelationship between lung cancer and other pulmonary and cardiac disease, and the diagnosis and treatment of those interrelationships; the provision of funds to enable the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering to expedite the development of computer-assisted diagnostic, surgical, treatment, and drug-testing innovations to reduce lung cancer mortality, such as through expansion of the Institute’s Quantum Grant Program and Image-Guided Interventions programs; and the provision of funds to enable the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to implement research programs relative to the lung cancer incidence.

With respect to the Food and Drug Administration— activities under section 529B of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act; and activities under section 561 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to expand access to investigational drugs and devices for the diagnosis, monitoring, or treatment of lung cancer. With respect to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the establishment of an early disease research and management program under section 1511. With respect to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the conduct of a biannual review of lung cancer screening, diagnostic, and treatment protocols, and the issuance of updated guidelines.

The promotion (including education) of lung cancer screening within minority and rural populations and the study of the effectiveness of efforts to increase such screening. The cooperation and coordination of all minority and health disparity programs within the Department of Health and Human Services to ensure that all aspects of the Lung Cancer Mortality Reduction Program under this section adequately address the burden of lung cancer on minority and rural populations. The cooperation and coordination of all tobacco control and cessation programs within agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services to achieve the goals of the Lung Cancer Mortality Reduction Program under this section with particular emphasis on the coordination of drug and other cessation treatments with early detection protocols. .

Subchapter B of chapter V of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act ( 21 U.S.C. 360aaa et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: The provisions of this subchapter shall apply to a drug described in subsection

(b)to the same extent and in the same manner as such provisions apply to a drug for a rare disease or condition. A drug described in this subsection is— a chemoprevention drug for precancerous conditions of the lung; a drug for targeted therapeutic treatments, including any vaccine, for lung cancer; or a drug to curtail or prevent nicotine addiction. The Board established under section 701 of the Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2020 shall monitor the program implemented under this section. . Section 561(e) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act ( 21 U.S.C. 360bbb(e) ) is amended by inserting before the period the following: and shall include expanding access to drugs under section 529B, with substantial consideration being given to whether the totality of information available to the Secretary regarding the safety and effectiveness of an investigational drug, as compared to the risk of morbidity and death from the disease, indicates that a patient may obtain more benefit than risk if treated with the drug . Title XV of the Public Health Service Act ( 42 U.S.C. 300k et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: The Secretary shall establish and implement an early disease research and management program targeted at the high incidence and mortality rates of lung cancer among minority and low-income populations. . The Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, each in coordination with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, shall engage— in the implementation within the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs of an early detection and disease management research program for military personnel and veterans whose smoking history and exposure to carcinogens during active duty service has increased their risk for lung cancer; and in the implementation of coordinated care programs for military personnel and veterans diagnosed with lung cancer. The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall convene a Lung Cancer Advisory Board (referred to in this section as the Board )— to monitor the programs established under this section (and the amendments made by this section); and to provide annual reports to the Congress concerning benchmarks, expenditures, lung cancer statistics, and the public health impact of such programs. The Board shall be comprised of— the Secretary of Health and Human Services; the Secretary of Defense; the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; and 2 representatives each from the fields of clinical medicine focused on lung cancer, lung cancer research, imaging, drug development, and lung cancer advocacy, to be appointed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. To carry out this section (and the amendments made by this section), there are authorized to be appropriated $75,000,000 for fiscal year 2021 and such sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal years 2022 through 2025. The amounts appropriated under paragraph

(1)shall be allocated as follows: $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2021, and such sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal years 2022 through 2025, for the activities described in section 417H(b)(1)(B) of the Public Health Service Act, as added by subsection (d); $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2021, and such sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal years 2022 through 2025, for the activities described in section 417H(b)(1)(C) of the Public Health Service Act; $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2021, and such sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal years 2022 through 2025, for the activities described in section 417H(b)(1)(D) of the Public Health Service Act; and $15,000,000 for fiscal year 2021, and such sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal years 2022 through 2025, for the activities described in section 417H(b)(3) of the Public Health Service Act.

Connectionstraces to 4

Traces to 4 documents

statutes-at-large