New bipartisan bill aims to speed up clinical trials for rare disease treatments

One week after the Food and Drug Administration unveiled a new initiative for speeding up the approval of rare diseases treatments, new legislation is being introduced to reimagine the way that those drugs are studied. The bipartisan bill, which will be introduced today by Democratic Rep. Jake Auchincloss and Republican Rep. Morgan Griffith, would make it easier for more patients to participate in clinical trials and reduce the time it takes to get them started. The so-called "Faster Clinical Trials Act" would also encourage drugmakers to use computer simulations in early-stage drug development and address some of the common reasons why the FDA suspends clinical trials to avoid delays.