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To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to fund prize competitions to accelerate innovation in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of Lyme disease, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services to conduct prize competitions to accelerate innovation in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of Lyme disease. The bill appropriates $5 million to fund these prize competitions. The competitions are intended to engage academia, nonprofits, industry, small business, entrepreneurs, and government entities to develop patient-centered innovations. The bill directs attention to fostering breakthroughs in Lyme disease health education, public awareness, and rapid diagnostic development.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
3 cosponsors
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Christopher H. Smith’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- WINDMILL HEALTH PRODUCTS $6,600
- ZAIS GROUP, LLC $6,600
- BLUFF POINT ASSOCIATES $6,600
- HILL & COMPANY $6,600
- SAKER SHOP RITE $6,600
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Christopher H. Smith → · Outside spending →
Actions (2)
- Feb 11, 2026 Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. · house
- Feb 11, 2026 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 11, 2026
Mr. Smith of New Jersey (for himself and Mr. Doggett) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
A BILL
To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to fund prize competitions to accelerate innovation in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of Lyme disease, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “LymeX Authorization Act”.
SEC. 2. POLICY.
It is the policy of the United States to—
(1) engage stakeholders, including academia, nonprofits, industry, small business, entrepreneurs, and government to facilitate patient-centered innovations in Lyme disease care;
(2) foster breakthroughs in health education and public awareness initiatives focused on Lyme disease patients; and
(3) accelerate development of next-gen diagnostics that are rapid and patient focused.
SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
There is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Health and Human Services $5,000,000 to carry out prize competitions (as defined in section 24 of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3719)) to accelerate innovation in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of Lyme disease. <all>
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