WASHINGTON – Congressman Tom Reed (R) is fighting to save funding for a federal diabetes research program.
Reed along with Democrat Diana DeGette are pushing legislation that would reauthorize and increase funding for the Special Diabetes Program for Type 1 Diabetes, a decades-old federal program that’s currently providing researchers at the National Institutes of Health $150 million a year to study Type 1 diabetes.
Reed said unless Congress acts, the program, which Congress first established in 1997 to develop new ways to treat and prevent the disease, is set to expire at the end of September.
“We care about people struggling with diabetes, and we will do everything we can to support research, treatment, and prevention efforts,” Reed said. “The Special Diabetes Programs has proven successful in delivering groundbreaking research in new treatment, technology and prevention services as well as the treatment and prevention of Type 2 diabetes for American Indians and Alaska Natives. We are pleased to see the overwhelming bipartisan support for this critical program.”
Since the program was created, it has contributed more than $2.7 billion towards diabetes research and has already resulted in several significant breakthroughs and discoveries, many of which have helped develop some of the newest treatments now available to patients.
Leave a Reply