NBCC Advocates Make Crucial Gains on Lobby Day
Thank you to the many NBCC leaders who participated in our 2023 Advocate Leadership Summit and Lobby Day! Teams of advocates met with nearly 200 congressional offices to share NBCC legislative priorities and secure lawmakers’ commitment to support the Metastatic Breast Cancer Access to Care Act. The bipartisan legislation, which as of this writing has already gained 129 bipartisan cosponsors in the House, eliminates the arbitrary and onerous waiting periods for Social Security Disability Insurance benefits and Medicare coverage for those with metastatic breast cancer.
Our work continues; take action today by asking your own congressional representatives to support this critical legislation.
NBCC Takes FDA reform to the Hill
In January, The NBCC Board of Directors approved a new public policy priority concerning FDA Reform. Last week, NBCC advocates took the priority to the Hill. Our message is that we all want to save lives. And we want to be sure that the treatments women and men get for breast cancer will achieve that goal. That means we need an FDA that approves drugs with clinically meaningful benefits for patients.
NBCC advocates urged Congress to reform the accelerated approval pathway to ensure that the drugs given to patients are safe and have actual clinical benefits (improved overall survival and/or quality of life). They told Congress that the FDA should impose strict timelines for the initiation of confirmatory trials and require the use of clinically meaningful endpoints. And, the FDA should have the authority to quickly withdraw an accelerated approval if a confirmatory trial has not been initiated or timely completed and/or the drug fails to confirm clinical benefit.
NBCC advocates will continue their conversation with Congress and the FDA on these issues in the weeks and months ahead.
NBCC Garners Widespread Bipartisan Support for Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program (DOD BCRP)
NBCC advocates mobilized to ensure continued support for the DOD BCRP in the congressional appropriations process, which will determine government funding levels for fiscal year 2024. NBCC advocates secured support for the program from 160 bipartisan representatives and 32 senators – and continued to stress the importance and impact of the program during their recent lobby day. Our advocacy efforts will continue for the remainder of the year with the goal of ensuring level funding of $150 million for the DOD BCRP.
Become a Member or Make a Gift to Support NBCC’s Public Policy Work Today
NBCC increases federal funding for breast cancer research, expands access to quality health care, and works to create breast cancer health care policy and system change. Join us, and thousands of NBCC members and advocates, in our work to ensure breast cancer remains a priority for federal and state policymakers. Become a member or make a gift today.
All memberships and gifts made to the National Breast Cancer Coalition’s 501(c)4 are NOT tax-deductible. Financial information about our tax-deductible arm, the National Breast Cancer Coalition Fund, can be obtained by contacting us at 2001 L Street, NW, Suite 500 PMB#50111, Washington, DC 20036, or by calling 800-622-2838.
