New “21st Century Cures” Bill Gives More Power to Pharmaceutical Industry

It’s called a 21st century bill, but this extraordinarily dense legislative proposal follows an old, 20th century paradigm: if there’s an illness, create some new government-subsidized drugs to throw at it. The “21st Century Cures Act” is close to 400 pages long. If enacted, it would dramatically alter the ways pharmaceutical and medical device products are regulated in the US. For example, there is an expedited review and approval process for “breakthrough vaccines,” especially in the face of public health crises, but it doesn’t put important safeguards in place to protect the public, such as informed consent or post-market studies.