House Bills - 110th Congress

H.R. 1494—The Pediatric Medical Device Safety and Improvement Act of 2007

On March 13, 2007, Representative Edward Markey (D-MA) introduced H.R. 1494, the Pediatric Medical Device Safety and Improvement Act of 2007. A Senate companion, S. 830, was introduced by Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT) on March 8, 2007. The bills are aimed at encouraging the development of medical devices for use by children. Provisions would require NIH, FDA, and AHRQ to develop a plan for expanding medical device research and development. Provisions would also require the Secretary, HHS, to provide grants to a non-profit consortium, which would be tasked with facilitating the development of pediatric devices, by connecting individuals with ideas for pediatric devices with potential manufacturers. The consortium would be required to coordinate with NIH in these efforts and would be responsible for notifying NIH of any unmet needs that the consortium lacks sufficient capacity to address. H.R. 1494 was referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.  Some sections of this bill were ultimately incorporated into H.R. 3580, which become P.L. 110-85.