Winners And Losers With The 21st Century Cures Bill

A sprawling health bill that passed the Senate Thursday by a 94 to 5 vote and is expected to gain President Obama's signature is a grab bag for industries, academic institutions and patient groups that spent oodles of time and money lobbying to advance their interests. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell calls it "the most important legislation that Congress will pass this year." Who wins and who loses? Here's the rundown of what's at stake in the 21st Century Cures Act:

The law would likely save drug and device companies billions of dollars when it comes to bringing products to market by giving the Food and Drug Administration more discretion in the kinds of studies required to evaluate new devices and medicines for approval. The changes represent a massive lobbying effort by 58 pharmaceutical companies, 24 device companies and 26 biotech companies, according to a Kaiser Health News analysis of lobbying data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics. The groups reported more than $192 million in lobbying expenses on the Cures Act and other legislative priorities, the analysis shows.

The law would provide $4.8 billion over 10 years in additional funding to National Institutes of Health, the federal government's main biomedical research organization. (The funds aren't guaranteed, however, and would be subject to annual appropriations.) The money could help researchers at universities and medical centers get hundreds of millions more dollars in research grants, most of it toward research on cancer, neuroscience and genetic medicine...