West Virginia U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito was the lead sponsor of a bill that promises to provide greater support to people with Parkinson’s nationwide.
The Dr. Emmanuel Bilirakis National Plan to End Parkinson’s Act, or House Resolution 2365, will require the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to create “an advisory board comprising members of federal agencies and private sector experts, including, patients, care partners, researchers, and clinicians to create a comprehensive plan to end the disease,” according to West Virginia Parkinson’s Advocate George Manahan, who testified before a Congressional subcommittee in support of the legislation on behalf of the Michael J. Fox Foundation.
After the bill passed the U.S. House in December, it was taken to the U.S. Senate this week where it passed unanimously. The bill is now on its way to President Biden for approval. The three-year long legislation efforts were led by the Michael J. Fox Foundation and thousands of members of the Parkinson’s community.
“Sen. Capito’s leadership on The National Plan to End Parkinson’s Act gives people suffering from Parkinson’s disease new hope for a cure,” Manahan said.
Around 7,000 people in West Virginia live with Parkinson’s disease out of an estimated 1.2 million in the U.S., with the state considered to have the third-highest Parkinson’s disease rate in the nation.