Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand announced the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense approved $1.1 million for the North Shore-LIJ Health System to develop new treatment to address traumatic injuries that lead to severe blood loss and hemorrhaging in the FY11 Appropriations Bill. The development of this treatment has the potential to save lives of our troops serving overseas and all patients suffering from traumatic injuries. Senator Gillibrand aggressively lobbied members of the Appropriations Committee to include the funding in this year’s spending bill.
“The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research is working on breakthrough therapy to treat traumatic injury and hemorrhaging,” Senator Gillibrand said. “This critical investment would help save the lives of our men and women in uniform and people across the country. I will continue to fight for funding to keep our state’s world-class research facilities at the forefront of medicine.”
“Thanks to Senator Gillibrand, scientists at our Feinstein Institute for Medical Research can continue their work on developing a therapy for trauma and uncontrolled hemorrhage that will protect our soldiers on the field, thousands of individuals in our communities here in New York and across the country,” said Michael J. Dowling, president and CEO of the North Shore-LIJ Health System. “Traumatic injury with severe blood loss is a major problem on the battlefield, as well as on our streets and highways, where nearly 34,000 lives were lost in traffic accidents last year. There’s an important need for a drug that controls bleeding and Feinstein scientists have identified a natural molecule called grehlin that does just that. It’ll be a great day when science can move forward to make such an enormous difference in the world.”
Traumatic injury with severe blood loss is a major problem for our military, with many combat wounds resulting in uncontrolled hemorrhaging. This legislation would provide $1.1 million to The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, a non-profit research branch of the North Shore-LIJ Health System, for the development of a new therapeutic treatment for traumatic injury and uncontrolled hemorrhage. Making full use of the knowledge and experience of clinicians throughout the system, the Feinstein Institute would use these funds to develop effective strategies for resuscitation of traumatic injury and uncontrolled hemorrhage, addressing an urgent need for our military.
The legislation will head to a full vote before the Senate and then proceed to the House-Senate Conference Committee, before final passage in both chambers and then to the President to be signed into law.