By Andrew Pike, Ph.D.

On December 13, 2016, former President Barack Obama signed a bill known as the “21st Century Cures Act” into law. The bill had strong bipartisan support and passed both houses of congress with nearly unanimous consent. This bill covers a broad range of health related topics from tackling the opioid crisis and encouraging novel drug discovery to increasing access to mental health care. Many of these changes had been under consideration for some time, and address long-standing health care issues. Others, such as the “Cancer Moonshot” and “BRAIN Initiative” have appeared more recently and represent the projects spearheaded by Vice-President Joe Biden and President Obama, respectively.