How Pharma Just Stole Your Tax Dollars

By Dr. Mercola In December 2016, the 21st Century Cures Act was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama. After easily passing through the House of Representatives during the summer of 2015, the bill (H.R. 34) stalled in the Senate until the end of November, 2016, when it was put on a fast track and pushed through the Senate with a 94-5 vote. The nearly 1,000-page Act touts some impressive-sounding rhetoric, like a $1.8-billion investment in cancer research and another $1 billion pledged to fight the abuse of opioids, heroin and other addictive drugs. Over the next decade, the 21st Century Cures Act pledges $6.3 billion in spending and will “streamline” drug and medical device approvals by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).1 Unfortunately, drug, vaccine and medical device manufacturers and lobbyists are the big beneficiaries of the Act, as the International Business Times (IBT) reported:2 “Originally conceived as a bill to boost research, the law has b
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