Good Day BIO: HHS on 'marching in' and drug prices

Starting the week with what HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said about using Bayh-Dole march-in rights to control drug prices, and what you need to know about mental health on World Mental Health Day. (700 words, 3 minutes, 30 seconds)

HHS: Marching in ‘not off the table’

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra is reportedly open to using “march-in” rights to control drug prices, reports Axios—we’ll tell you again why that’s a bad idea.

When asked last week about using “march-in” rights to control drug prices,Secretary Becerra told reporters, “We will continue to explore every option we have… We’ve never taken anything off the table. And we will work on every one of those aspects of lowering drug prices. Why don’t I leave it at that?”

What law are we talking about? The Bayh-Dole Act empowers universities, small businesses, and non-profits to own and license inventions made with federally funded research—turning basic research into tested and approved products.

The government can “march in” and force additional licenses under limited circumstances—but march-in petitions based on the price of a drug have consistently been rejected by Democratic AND Republican administrations.

“The purpose of the Bayh-Dole Act was not to create a mechanism for the federal government to set prices on successfully commercialized products,” said nearly 100 academic and private-sector innovation experts and organizations, legal scholars, and policy organizations (including BIO) in a letter earlier this year to Secretary Becerra.

But misuse could cause “market incentives” to “evaporate,”says the High Plains Journal. “Companies would be afraid to risk development capital only to lose the fruits because politicians thought their price was not ‘reasonable.’ Scientists might be reluctant to collaborate on significant innovations if they knew they could never share in the profits from them.”

More Reading: Experts say attack on Bayh-Dole threatens small businesses

The big picture: Bayh-Dole has led to many innovations—from 13,000 start-ups and 300 drugs on the market like neoprene, the Honeycrisp apple, and high-def television. Using “march-in” provisions to control drug prices would derail future innovation.

It’s World Mental Health Day – but mental health must be a priority every day

The numbers don’t lie: America, and the world, has a mental health crisis. Here’s what you need to know on World Mental Health Day and what the experts are saying about the need to address it.

1 in 5 = the number of U.S. adults who experience mental illness each year, per the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).

51% = the number of Americans who rate mental health a top health concern in 2022—greater than COVID-19, at 43%, according to a recent Ipsos Global Poll.

12 billion = the number of work days lost annually to anxiety and depression, costing the economy nearly $1 trillion, according to the WHO and International Labor Organization (ILO).

What can we do about it?Bio.News spoke to several organizations dedicated to addressing mental health—here’s what they said:

• “Address the systematic inequities that result in barriers to care,” said Schroeder Stribling, President and CEO of Mental Health America. “Nearly 50 million American adults live with a mental health condition and more than half do not receive treatment.”
• “Continue advocating for more resources and services,” said the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA). “Because of the effects of stigma in our society, which discourages people from talking more openly about their mental health, we know the actual numbers of people living with mood disorders are much higher.”
• “Raise awareness of mental illness, fight discrimination, and provide support,” said NAMI’s Chief Development Officer Jessica Edwards—not only on World Mental Health Day, but every day.

If you or a loved one is struggling with a mental health concern, please consider looking into the resources from Mental Health America, Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA), and National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).

More Health Care News:

Gilead: Gilead’s path to equitable global COVID-19 treatment access
“Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Gilead’s first-in-class antiviral was made available to more than 11 million patients globally– over 65% of whom live in low-and lower-middle-income countries (LLMICs),” writes Mike Boyd, SVP of Government Affairs and Policy at Gilead. 

Nature Medicine: Boosting with updated COVID-19 mRNA vaccines
“Emerging evidence shows that boosting with updated mRNA vaccines that target SARS-CoV-2 variants stimulates better neutralizing antibody responses than homologous boosters,” says a study led by researchers at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. 

President Biden’s Monday: Back to the White House after spending the weekend in Delaware.

What’s Happening on Capitol Hill: Recess.