Good Day BIO: Anti-science drug pricing is back

The threat of anti-science price controls returns

The threat of drug price controls is returning—here’s what’s happening and why it’s still a misguided policy proposal. 

What’s happening: Democrats have reportedly “finalized” a drug pricing proposal “largely similar to the blueprint that Democrats put forward last year,” reports The Washington Post. The proposal would allow the government to fix the prices of certain drugs, “penalizing companies that raise prescription prices faster than inflation.” 

But prices of brand-name drugs continue to fall,BIO experts have explained time and again—and drug prices are seeing the lowest increases for inflation across all health care categories. 

What price controls will do is throttle innovation—eliminating the incentives to conduct risky, expensive R&D. 

What legislation would really make a difference for drug prices? The Pharmacy Benefit Manager Transparency Act, which is making its way through the Senate and targets drug middlemen who can drive markups in drug prices. 

BIO supports legislation to reduce patients’ out-of-pocket costs—but price controls would “disrupt our innovation ecosystem and crowd out the next generation of new therapies that could transform the standard of care for patients and help bring down our nation’s long-term health care costs,” BIO President and CEO Dr. Michelle McMurry-Heath has said. 

Gear up for a busy summer. With Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) reportedly on board, Democrats “hope to adopt the drug pricing plan as part of a larger economic package that they would advance through the narrowly divided Senate using the process known as reconciliation,” explains The Washington Post. This would allow the Senate to pass it with a simple majority, according to Forbes. 

Listen: How Drug Price Controls End Up Hurting Patients

Scientists follow their noses to counter mosquito-borne disease

New research found patients already infected with dengue and Zika smell more attractive to mosquitoes—creating more opportunities to spread these diseases. Here’s how biotech can help keep mosquito-borne diseases in check.

What they found: Mosquitoes are drawn to acetophenone, which is kept in check by a protein called RELMa, Science reports. Tsinghua University researchers found mice infected with dengue and Zika produce much less RELMa, and when they fed the mice isotretinoin, a vitamin A derivative that increases RELMa, the rodents attracted fewer mosquitoes.

What does this mean for patients? Isotretinoin could be given to humans with dengue and Zika to slow the spread of the diseases, and “electronic noses” could be used to detect the diseases in humans faster and without a blood sample.

We have other biotech solutions to stop mosquito-borne disease—including gene editing, which is being used to make humans "invisible" to disease-carrying mosquitoes by eliminating the mosquito's light-sensing receptors, we reported last year.

Biological solutions are also showing promise in suppressing mosquito populations, where an initial trial in the Florida Keys showed self-limiting mosquitoes “behaved as planned." The next phase of the project will launch this week, with high demand among Keys residents to volunteer to host mosquitoes on their property. 

Why it matters: Dengue has increased 30-fold over the past half-century, driven by warming climates and the resulting increase in mosquito populations. Biotech can help us solve these issues in innovative ways—if biotech regulations keep up with the science.

President Biden’s Tuesday: Giving the Medal of Honor, America’s highest recognition for valor in combat, to four veterans of the Vietnam War.

What’s Happening on Capitol Hill: The House and Senate are in recess. Meanwhile, Deputy Agriculture Secretary Jewel Bronaugh told Agri-Pulse that USDA is expecting to bring all employees back to the office by mid-August.