Automatic budget cuts (sequestration) are scheduled to take effect in January 2013 unless members of Congress come quickly to an agreement regarding the budget. NIH and FDA are facing up to 8% budget cut. This could paralyze the development of treatment for patients with rare disease.
The Rare Disease Legislative Advocates are calling American citizens to contact their members of Congress to urge them to protect funding for NIH and FDA:
http://rareadvocates.org/action-alert-prevent-devastating-nih-fda-budget-cuts/