President Joe Biden touted his plan to create a new health agency in his address to Congress Wednesday night, Stat News reports.
As in his budget proposal, President Biden has called for the National Institutes of Health to create a health-focused agency in the vein of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, dubbed the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, to take on riskier projects. "It would have a singular purpose: to develop breakthroughs to prevent, detect, and treat diseases like Alzheimer's, diabetes, and cancer," he said during his speech.
According to Stat News, the mention of ARPA-H in President Biden's first address to Congress emphasizes the administration's keenness for the idea, which it notes President Biden also mentioned during his 2019 campaign, though it had been around in various forms even earlier.
It adds that lawmakers had a positive response to the idea, giving a standing ovation as President Biden said that no idea is more bipartisan than curing diseases like cancer.