The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee has unanimously passed legislation to advance pediatric cancer research and child-focused cancer treatments.
The Childhood Cancer Survivorship, Treatment, Access, and Research (STAR) Act also aims to improve childhood cancer surveillance and provide resources for survivors and those impacted by childhood cancer.
The bipartisan bill was written by U.S. Sens. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and Jack Reed, D-R.I., and was introduced last February with support from Sens. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., and Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.
“The Childhood Cancer STAR Act will help some of our country’s youngest cancer patients by encouraging new developments in both research and treatment,” Capito said. “I know this legislation will make an important difference in the lives of children with cancer, as well as childhood cancer survivors, and their families. It’s exciting to see our bipartisan bill advance in the Senate, and I will continue working with Sen. Reed and our colleagues to make sure it’s passed.”
Although some progress has been made in pediatric cancer research — with deaths from childhood cancer declining by almost 70 percent over the last four decades — cancer is still the leading cause of death by disease past infancy among children in the U.S., according to NIH’s National Cancer Institute (NCI).
NCI estimates that nationwide, 10,380 children and adolescents up to 14 years of age were diagnosed with cancer within the last year and 1,250 will die of the disease.
Now that the Childhood Cancer STAR Act has been approved by the HELP Committee, it must be debated and passed by the full U.S. Senate. Similar legislation is working its way through the U.S. House of Representatives under the bipartisan leadership of U.S. Reps. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, and Jackie Speier, D-Calif.