Quigley Helps Secure $3 Billion for ALS Research

Today, U.S. Representative Mike Quigley (IL-05), a member of the House Committee on Appropriations, helped secure more than $3 billion in funding that will go towards accelerating the pace of scientific breakthroughs for diseases such as ALS, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, and cancer. This funding was included in the fiscal year 2022 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (L-HHS) bill, which was approved by the House Committee on Appropriations today.

"ALS patients are often left with merely 3 years to live following their diagnosis. They deserve every possible chance to beat it. Part of helping make that happen is ensuring our scientific community has the resources they need to speed up scientific breakthroughs for not only ALS, but other neurodegenerative diseases that impact millions of Americans," saidQuigley. "I am pleased the funding has been approved so we can begin the work to ultimately giving these individuals a fighting chance."

This year's L-HHS funding bill provides $119.8 billion for HHS, including $49 billion for NIH, an increase of $6.5 billion above the FY21 enacted level. Specifically, the bill will provide $3 billion to establish the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) to accelerate the pace of scientific breakthroughs for diseases such as ALS, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, and cancer.

Quigley is a lead sponsor and champion of the bipartisan, bicameral Accelerating Access to Critical Therapies for ALS Act (ACT for ALS). ACT for ALS currently has nearly 300 co-sponsors and would create the infrastructure necessary to fund early access to promising clinical trial therapies for patients suffering from fast-progressing rare neurodegenerative and terminal diseases, like ALS.