WASHINGTON, D.C. — Legislation to help thousands of children who undergo cancer treatment each year took an important step forward today when the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee unanimously passed the Childhood Cancer Survivorship, Treatment, Access, and Research (STAR) Act (S. 292). The bipartisan bill was written by U.S. Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and was introduced last February with critical support from Senators Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.). It will advance pediatric cancer research and child-focused cancer treatments, while also improving childhood cancer surveillance and providing resources for survivors and those impacted by childhood cancer.
 
“The Childhood Cancer STAR Act will help some of our country’s youngest cancer patients by encouraging new developments in both research and treatment,” Senator 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 Senator Reed and our colleagues to make sure it’s passed.”
 
“This is a positive step toward advancing pediatric cancer research and providing a lot of courageous kids and their families with some additional help,” Senator Reed said. “The Childhood Cancer STAR Act will bring needed assistance to children with cancer and their families by expanding opportunities for research on childhood cancer and providing new strategies to help survivors overcome late health effects, such as secondary cancers. It is my hope that these efforts will lead to life-saving treatments for children and bring us closer to our ultimate goal of ending pediatric cancer once and for all.”
 
While 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 United States, 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.
 
The Childhood Cancer STAR Act currently has 44 Senate cosponsors. Now that it 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. Representatives Michael McCaul (R-Texas) and Jackie Speier (D-Calif.).
 
BACKGROUND

The Childhood Cancer Survivorship, Treatment, Access, and Research (STAR) Act (S. 292) would expand opportunities for childhood cancer research, improve efforts to identify and track childhood cancer incidences, and enhance the quality of life for childhood cancer survivors.

  • Expanding Opportunities for Childhood Cancer Research: Due to the relatively small population of children with cancer and the geographic distance between these children, researching childhood cancer can be challenging. As such, the Childhood Cancer STAR Act would authorize the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to expand existing efforts to collect biospecimens for childhood cancer patients enrolled in NCI-sponsored clinical trials to collect and maintain relevant clinical, biological, and demographic information on all children, adolescents, and young adults with cancer.
      
  • Improving Childhood Cancer Surveillance: Building upon previous efforts, this bill would authorize grants to state cancer registries to identify and track incidences of child, adolescent, and young adult cancer. This funding would be used to identify and train reporters of childhood cancer cases, secure infrastructure to ensure early reporting and capture of child cancer incidences, and support the collection of cases into a national childhood cancer registry.
      
  • Improving Quality of Life for Childhood Cancer Survivors: Unfortunately, even after beating cancer, as many as two-thirds of survivors suffer from late effects of their disease or treatment, including secondary cancers and organ damage. This legislation would enhance research on the late effects of childhood cancers, improve collaboration among providers so that doctors are better able to care for this population as they age, and establish a new pilot program to begin to explore innovative models of care for childhood cancer survivors.
      
  • Ensuring Pediatric Expertise at the National Institutes of Health (NIH):  The Childhood Cancer STAR Act would require the inclusion of at least one pediatric oncologist on the National Cancer Advisory Board and would improve childhood health reporting requirements to include pediatric cancer.

 

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