Blumenthal & Wild Introduce Bipartisan, Bicameral Legislation to Strengthen Research & Treatment Development for Brain Cancers

[WASHINGTON, DC] – Today, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and U.S. Representative Susan Wild (D-PA) introduced the Bolstering Research And Innovation Now (BRAIN) Act, bipartisan legislation to strengthen research and treatment development for brain tumors and to improve the accessibility of brain tumor health care. U.S. Senators John Barrasso (R-WY), Jack Reed (D-RI), and Mike Rounds (R-SD) and U.S. Representatives Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Lori Trahan (D-MA), and John Joyce (R-PA) joined Blumenthal and Wild in introducing the bicameral legislation.

“Malignant brain tumors remain a vicious and persistent enemy for many Americans—impacting more than one million people in the United States today,” said Blumenthal. “With incidence and survival rates remaining stagnant for decades, our bipartisan, bicameral BRAIN Act is needed to advance research and treatment for these highly deadly cancers and defeat brain tumors once and for all.”

“I am proud to be the House lead of the BRAIN Act, which will enable our medical community to research groundbreaking treatments and innovative systems of care for the millions of Americans affected by brain tumors,” said Wild. “American families — including my own — have been impacted by this terrible disease for far too long. I’ll never stop fighting for a cure, for the American children, adults, and seniors currently living with brain tumors, and to honor my mother, who I lost to brain cancer in 2014.”

“After losing my wife, Bobbi, to glioblastoma, I know firsthand how tragic a brain tumor diagnosis can be for patients and their families. Raising awareness and supporting efforts to find a cure is a personal priority for me,” said Barrasso. “I’m proud to join my colleagues in introducing this bipartisan, bicameral legislation to advance treatments and support research to find a cure for these deadly diagnoses.”

“The Bolstering Research And Innovation Now Act marks a pivotal advancement in our battle against brain tumors and rare cancers,” said Fitzpatrick. “For far too long, patients and their families in my community and around the world have endured the harrowing effects of these devastating diseases with little hope for effective solutions and results. Our bipartisan initiative takes a critical step forward in revolutionizing research and treatment by accelerating innovation, enhancing collaboration, and elevating patient care through increased transparency, substantial funding, and comprehensive education. By paving the way for transformative discoveries, the BRAIN Act brings us closer to unlocking a cure and defeating cancer once and for all.”

“A brain tumor diagnosis is devastating news for too many American families, and the federal government needs to step up to help find a cure and better diagnostics and treatment. The BRAIN Act is about saving lives, changing lives, and improving health outcomes. It would help fast-track scientific discovery and breakthroughs by improving access to clinical trials for patients and advancing innovative new treatments. It would also make it easier for researchers to access biospecimens for new research on brain tumors and fund more clinical trials for the most aggressive, hard-to-treat brain tumors,” said Reed.  “This bipartisan bill would also establish new programs and research for brain tumor survivors to improve quality of life and ensure appropriate follow up care over the long term.”

“For me, the fight against cancer is personal. When my late wife Jean was courageously battling cancer a few years ago, we were already seeing encouraging progress in the development of new treatments for many cancers,” said Rounds. “I firmly believe we are years, not decades, away from seeing cures to many of the most deadly cancers. The BRAIN Act will allow us to continue capitalizing on the progress we have made so far by implementing programs and funding that will advance research and treatments for brain tumors. I am glad to be joining a bipartisan group of my colleagues on this legislation.” 

“With more than a million Americans fighting brain tumors, including many children, we must use every tool at our disposal, support scientific research and breakthroughs necessary to defeat brain cancer once and for all,” said Trahan. “The bipartisan BRAIN Act will strengthen brain tumor research, help develop treatments, and get us closer to unlocking a cure.”

“We need every advantage that we can obtain to assist those who are battling brain tumors. To help support the 1 million Americans living with a brain tumor, I’m proud to cosponsor the BRAIN Act, which would help to streamline research, support access to clinical trials, and expand funding to develop new ways to care for patients,” said Joyce. “I’m grateful to my colleagues, Senator Blumenthal and Representative Wild, for introducing this legislation, and I look forward to its passage in the House.”

“This is a watershed moment for the brain tumor community,” said David Arons, President & Chief Executive Officer of the National Brain Tumor Society. “The BRAIN Act represents the first piece of legislation introduced in Congress specifically drafted to address a number of the unique challenges and opportunities facing patients with brain and other rare and deadly cancers, their care partners and families, medical providers, and the research working to find better treatments and cures. We thank Senators Blumenthal, Barrasso, Reed, and Rounds, as well as Representatives Wild, Fitzpatrick, Trahan, and Joyce, for realizing the major unmet needs of this community and championing policies that bolster research efforts, accelerate the quest for cures, and innovate the way healthcare is delivered for cancer patients and survivors.”

“In my 12-year career as a practicing neuro-oncologist and clinical researcher, I’ve seen first-hand the devastating toll that brain tumors take on patients and families,” said Nicholas Blondin, MD, Associate Professor of Neurology at Yale School of Medicine. “I’ve also witnessed transformative changes in the way we treat other cancers, such as breast cancer, lung cancer and melanoma. Unfortunately, we have not experienced the same level of progress in the tools and treatment options for patients with malignant brain tumors. More concerted policies to adequately fund cutting-edge research, paired with initiatives to raise awareness about the advances that are currently happening in diagnostics and clinical trials, are essential. New models for addressing the challenges patients face in their brain tumor journey will greatly benefit efforts in the field of neuro-oncology to catch up to the progress we have seen in treating other cancers.” 

Today, more than one million people in the United States are living with a primary brain tumor. Another 94,000 more will likely be diagnosed in 2024, in addition to hundreds of thousands of Americans diagnosed with metastatic brain cancer. Despite major improvements made in the treatment of other cancers in recent years, incidence and survival rates for malignant brain tumors have remained stagnant for 45 years, with a five-year relative survival rate of only 35.7 percent.

In order to reduce mortality rates and make meaningful progress against brain tumors, better-funded and collaborative research is needed. The BRAIN Act takes a comprehensive, complementary approach to meet this need and further advance research for these aggressive, hard-to-treat cancers.

Specifically, the BRAIN Act:

1. Increases transparency of federally-funded biobank collections so that researchers are aware of others who possess samples that might be shared to enable important research.
   
   
2. Sufficiently resources the National Cancer Institute’s Glioblastoma Therapeutics Network, so that it can realize its promise of vetting treatments and completing innovative early-phase clinical trials.
   
   
3. Enables team science to advance immunotherapy research (CAR-T) engineered to attack brain cancer cells.
   
   
4. Directs the Centers for Disease Control to conduct a public education campaign around the importance of clinical trials and biomarker testing in cancer treatment.
   
   
5. Augments and expands funding to develop innovative systems of care models for brain tumor survivors.
   
   
6. Directs FDA to issue guidance to ensure brain tumor and other rare and recalcitrant cancer patient access to clinical trials evaluating treatments for other diseases.

Bill text for the BRAIN Act is available here. A section-by-section is available here and a one-page summary of the bill is available here.

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