Health Care Blog

Innovation at the Food and Drug Administration

On the interstate, when traffic suddenly slows, often you come across the obvious cause of the jam: a fender bender, construction, a breakdown.  But in trying to understand why the country’s pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device sectors seem to be facing a slowdown in terms of innovation, there is no single cause.

It’s likely that this slowdown is due to a combination of many factors. And while these industries have fared better than others, it is critical for the health and well being of every American that they not just survive, but thrive.

That’s why we want the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to do everything we can to promote innovation.

Today the FDA is an agency that works with industry to ensure that a wide array of products that improve the lives of millions of Americans are safe and effective. We do that well, and I am personally proud of that.

But we have also been listening closely to companies, patients, doctors and advocacy groups about ways we can help America remain the leader in biomedical innovation. The FDA’s suggestion box is never closed. And, as you can imagine, never empty.

A Father Celebrates Today's Reauthorization of the Combating Autism Act

Micahel Strautmanis, his wife and their three children

Every single day, I am proud and awed to be working for our President. But, some days simply take the cake. Just a few short months ago, I had a couple of those days. On April 1st, President Obama issued the first ever Presidential Proclamation to mark World Autism Awareness Day. Later that month, I had another special moment when Valerie Jarrett and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that the President and his administration fully supported reauthorization of the Combating Autism Act (CAA).  As a father of a child on the autism spectrum, these were extraordinarily meaningful moments to me. 

Today, President Obama signed into law the reauthorization of the CAA. I was once again reminded of the honor that it is to be working for a President who gets it -- he knows that persons on the autism spectrum are at the heart of this issue. 

Nearly one percent of American children are on the Autism Spectrum, and this reauthorization continues important investments in research, early detection and support and services for both children and adults. Without it, critical research would have been severely hindered and in some cases halted. Millions of persons on the Autism Spectrum would have been deprived of the potential breakthroughs resulting from valuable research, and of the chance to live independent and productive lives.