Sponsors (4)
Official title: To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to carry out a public awareness campaign to increase participation by women in clinical trials that are conducted or supported by the National Institutes of Health, and for other purposes.
Introduced February 25, 2026 by Josh S. Gottheimer · Last progress February 25, 2026
The bill funds outreach and creates a coordinated federal strategy to increase women's enrollment and speed rare-disease research, improving representation and R&D coordination, but it increases federal spending and risks producing unfunded or ineffective plans, straining resources and diverting staff if not well-targeted.
Women (including those with bleeding/clotting disorders and rare diseases) will have increased outreach and opportunities to enroll in NIH clinical trials, improving representation in research and access to diagnosis, prevention, and treatment research.
A coordinated federal strategy for rare diseases should accelerate development of diagnostics, treatments, and R&D coordination across agencies, benefiting patients with rare conditions.
Provides dedicated funding ($10M/year for FY2027–2031) to run outreach campaigns, making it more likely that outreach and enrollment efforts will be implemented rather than remain unfunded guidance.
Taxpayers will fund roughly $50 million over five years for the outreach campaign, and the bill creates a new permanent federal body that may add ongoing administrative costs.
Outreach efforts could be ineffective or poorly targeted (wasting funds) and may divert NIH staff time and resources from other research priorities if appropriations are limited.
Requiring a publicly posted plan within 180 days but not guaranteeing new funding or implementation risks producing a high-level or preliminary plan that does not translate into rapid, funded action.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Authorizes HHS to run campaigns to increase women’s participation in clinical trials and bleeding/clotting research, creates a rare‑disease Task Force, and requires an HHS action plan.
Requires HHS (through NIH and other agencies) to run public awareness campaigns to increase women’s participation in clinical trials and in research, surveillance, and prevention programs for bleeding and clotting disorders, and authorizes $10 million per year for each campaign for FY2027–2031. Creates a permanent Interagency Task Force on Advancing Treatments for Rare Diseases to assess federal rare-disease activities, coordinate incentives for R&D (with attention to rare diseases that disproportionately affect women), and directs HHS to publish an action plan within 180 days to coordinate incentives and research for rare diseases affecting women.