Washington - Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) today re-introduced legislation aimed at expanding research on psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. The Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis Research, Cure and Care Act authorizes the CDC to continue data collection examining prevalence rate, age of onset, natural history of the disease and associated health risks, among other factors.
"Too many people mistakenly think that psoriasis is merely a mild inconvenience," said Menendez. "I believe we need to do more to recognize the pain and suffering caused by psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. I am introducing this legislation to increase research in the hopes of finding more treatments - and hopefully a cure - for those living with these difficult diseases."
As many as 7.5 million Americans are affected by psoriasis - a chronic, inflammatory, painful, disfiguring and disabling disease for which there are limited treatments and no cure. In New Jersey alone, more than 220,000 people suffer from the disease that brings an increased risk for heart disease, diabetes, obesity and mental health conditions.
Specifically the legislation will:
- Authorize $1.5 million to be appropriated to the CDC for each fiscal year from 2012 through 2017 for psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis data collection;
- Recognize psoriasis as a serious autoimmune disease and identifies the connection between psoriasis and a range of associated diseases;
- Encourage the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to work with the National Psoriasis Foundation and other stakeholders on convening a multidisciplinary meeting to discuss the future directions of research into psoriasis and its associated health risks; and
- Encourage NIH to consider the development of a virtual "center of excellence" to share and leverage information on psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis across disciplines, and to emphasize integrated psoriatic disease research.
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