Bipartisan summit on childhood cancer scheduled for next week

Reps. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) and Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) are hosting a panel of the nation's top cancer doctors next week for a Congressional Childhood Cancer Summit.

The Sept. 16 summit, to coincide with Childhood Cancer Awareness Week, is expected to address issues such as drug development, availability of treatment, access to clinical trials, survivorship and the impact of childhood cancer on families and communities. It also seeks to draw attention to several pieces of legislation currently stuck in Congress. 

Rep. Jackie Speier's (D-Calif.) Childhood Cancer Survivorship Research and Quality of Life Act creates National Institutes of Health grants to research cancer survivorship and improve follow-up care. And Sen. Sam Brownback's (R-Kan.) Creating Hope Act would reform the Food and Drug Administration's priority review voucher incentive program relating to tropical and rare pediatric diseases.

McCaul and Sestak are the founders and co-chairs of the Congressional Pediatric Cancer Caucus.