On Oct. 5, President Obama signed the "Improving Access to Clinical Trials Act" into law.

This legislation, which passed the U.S. Senate on August 5 and the U.S. House of Representatives on September 23 , will enable patients with rare diseases to participate in clinical trials without losing eligibility for public health care benefits.

The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation was the first organization to identify this barrier to clinical research and collaborated with CF Caucus Co-Chairs Reps. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), and Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), James Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) to write the bill and lead the charge toward passage.

The CF Foundation also secured the endorsement of more than 120 other health advocacy organizations for the legislation.

View the official White House press release on the President's bill signing.

This law is particularly important for people with cystic fibrosis, because a limited patient population makes it challenging to find enough people to participate in research studies evaluating the effectiveness of promising new drugs.

"We are thankful to the CF advocates and our champions in Congress who made this momentous achievement possible," says Robert J. Beall, Ph.D., president and CEO of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. "This important legislation will benefit 25 million Americans with rare diseases and will help swiftly move promising new treatments from the research stage to the patients who need them most."

Additional Information

• Help accelerate the pace of CF drug research:  Participate in a clinical trial today!
• See what potential CF drugs are currently in the CF Foundation's drug development pipeline.