Murkowski and Colleagues Secure Final Passage of ACT for ALS Reauthorization

Murkowski and Colleagues Secure Final Passage of ACT for ALS Reauthorization

Washington, DC- U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Chris Coons (D-DE), Co-Chairs of the Senate ALS Caucus, along with Representatives Mike Quigley (D-IL) and Ken Calvert (R-CA) today celebrated final congressional passage of the Accelerating Access to Critical Therapies (ACT) for ALS Reauthorization Act of 2026, bipartisan legislation to preserve access to promising investigational treatments and accelerate research into ALS and other rare neurodegenerative diseases. The Senate passed the legislation by unanimous consent late last evening, and it now heads to the President's desk to be signed into law.

"For those living with ALS, every day matters. They cannot afford disruptions in research, treatment access, and support," said Senator Murkowski. "This reauthorization ensures that the momentum we have built over the past five years will continue, keeping pathways to promising investigational treatments open while supporting the research needed to find better treatments and, ultimately, a cure. I'm grateful to Senator Coons, Representatives Quigley and Calvert, and especially the ALS community, whose persistence helped us get this legislation across the finish line before the authorization expired."

Background:
Originally enacted in 2021, the ACT for ALS Act established an Expanded Access grant program to provide people living with ALS who are ineligible for clinical trials access to promising investigational treatments while supporting research on those therapies. The law also created a public-private partnership led by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) to accelerate the development and approval of therapies for ALS, as well as an FDA grant program supporting research into interventions to prevent, diagnose, treat, or cure these diseases.

The reauthorization extends these programs through 2031 and codifies the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) interpretation of eligibility guidelines for the Expanded Access Program.

Murkowski and Coons introduced the Senate legislation in April. The Senate unanimously passed its version in August. Quigley and Calvert led the House legislation.

For Fiscal Year 2026, Murkowski helped secure $90 million for ACT for ALS programs, an increase of $15 million over the previous fiscal year.