The 21st Century Cures Act (Cures Act), signed into law in 2016, was designed to advance new therapies by modernizing clinical trials, funding research initiatives, and accelerating the development and use of health information technology. To analyze the current issues in cancer care related to the implementation and impact of the Cures Act, NCCN convened a multistakeholder working group. Participants discussed the legislation’s impact on the oncology community since enactment and identified the remaining gaps and challenges as experienced by stakeholders. In June 2020, the policy recommendations of the working group were presented at the virtual NCCN Policy Summit: Accelerating Advances in Cancer Care Research: A Lookback at the 21st Century Cures Act in 2020. The summit consisted of informative discussions and a multistakeholder panel to explore the recommendations and the future of the Cures Act. This article explores identified policy recommendations from the NCCN Working Group and the NCCN Policy Summit, and analyzes opportunities to advance innovative cancer care and patient access to data.
Submitted November 25, 2020; accepted for publication January 5, 2021.
Disclosures: Dr. Ahlstrom has reported serving on patient advocacy boards for Sanofi, Bristol Myers Squib, Janssen, and Takeda. The remaining authors have disclosed that they have no financial interests, arrangements, or affiliations with the manufacturers of any products discussed in this article or their competitors.
Funding: This work was supported by funding from Adaptive Biotechnologies (ID0EFEAE4152); Amerisource Bergen (ID0EXIAE4153); Amgen (ID0EJNAE4154); Apobiologix (ID0E4RAE4155); Astellas Pharma US (ID0EPWAE4156); AstraZeneca (ID0ED2AE4157); BeiGene, Ltd. (ID0EX6AE4158); bluebird bio (ID0EKEAG4159); Dendreon Pharmaceuticals (ID0E3IAG4160); Eisai, Inc. (ID0EONAG4161); EMD Serono (ID0EASAG4162); Exelixis (ID0EUWAG4163); Foundation Medicine (ID0EI2AG4164); Genentech (ID0E16AG4165); GlaxoSmithKline (ID0EOEBG4166); Halozyme (ID0ECJBG4167); Heron (ID0EUNBG4168); Incyte Corporation (ID0EGSBG4169); Janssen Oncology (ID0EYWBG4170); Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson (ID0EK2BG4171); Kite, A Gilead Company (ID0E36BG4172); Merck (ID0EPEAI4173); MorphoSys US, Inc. (ID0EDJAI4174); Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (ID0EVNAI4175); Sun Pharmaceuticals (ID0EJSAI4176); Takeda (ID0E2WAI4177); Verastem Oncology (ID0EN2AI4178); Boehringer Ingelheim (ID0E66AI4179); and Pharmacyclics, an AbbVie Company (ID0ETEBI4180).