H.R. 5249 — Introduced in House

I 114th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 5249 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES May 16, 2016 Mrs. Capps (for herself, Mrs. Ellmers of North Carolina, Mr. McKinley, and Ms. Matsui) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To direct the NIH to intensify and coordinate fundamental, translational, and clinical research with respect to the understanding of pain, the discovery and development of therapies for chronic pain, and the development of alternatives to opioids for effective pain treatments. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Safe Treatments and Opportunities to Prevent Pain Act or the STOP Pain Act. 2. Enhancing basic and applied research on pain to discover therapies, including alternatives to opioids, for effective pain management (a) In general The Director of the National Institutes of Health (referred to in this section as the NIH) may intensify and coordinate fundamental, translational, and clinical research of the NIH with respect to— (1) the understanding of pain; (2) the discovery and development of therapies for chronic pain; and (3) the development of alternatives to opioids for effective pain treatments. (b) Priority and direction The prioritization and direction of the federally funded portfolio of pain research studies shall consider recommendations made by the Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Committee in concert with the Pain Management Best Practices Inter-Agency Task Force, and in accordance with the National Pain Strategy, the Federal Pain Research Strategy, and the NIH-Wide Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2016–2020, the latter which calls for the relative burdens of individual diseases and medical disorders to be regarded as crucial considerations in balancing the priorities of the Federal research portfolio.