While technologies such as CRISPR/Cas9 have been taking the academic world by storm since 2012 and big pharma already is betting on the winners, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) are just now launching an initiative to guide U.S. and global decision-making about human gene editing. As part of the initiative, NAS and IOM will host an international summit later this year, bringing researchers and other experts together to explore the scientific, ethical and policy issues associated with human gene editing.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee put aside partisan politics voting 51-0 to pass the 21st Century Cures Act, H.R. 6, in the hope of streamlining the process of developing and approving new medical treatments.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted 274-145 to pass a bill to make the popular R&D business tax credit permanent. The American Research and Competitiveness Act, which would cost about $182 billion over a decade, is intended to strengthen and simplify the tax credit. Citing the lack of offsets in the bill, the president has threatened to veto it.

Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) will serve as co-chairmen of a new, bipartisan Senate NIH caucus. The sole focus of the caucus is to increase and sustain funding for the agency.

The FDA signed a five-year memorandum of understanding with the National Forum for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention to promote a public education program to reduce the incidence of heart disease and stroke.