Good Day BIO: Why we need a proactive ag trade agenda

The flurry of pre-Thanksgiving recess activity on Capitol Hill continues, as a House Agriculture subcommittee looks at agricultural trade policy and we gear up for a vote on the Build Back Better Act (including drug price controls). (868 words, 4 minutes, 20 seconds)

Why we need a proactive agricultural trade agenda

There’s no time to waste in addressing climate change and food security—but major U.S. trading partners remain barriers to commercializing new agricultural biotechnology that could help, said BIO ahead of today’s House hearing on ag trade policy. 

What’s happening: The House Agriculture Subcommittee on Livestock and Foreign Agriculture will hold a hearing today (10 AM ET) on trade policy and priorities, with witnesses across America’s agriculture and food supply chain. 

The context: While the U.S. has led the world in the commercialization of biotechnology to enable more sustainable farming and industrial practices, China, Mexico, and the EU “delay biotechnology risk assessments and approvals or intentionally malign technology,” said BIO in comments ahead of the hearing.   

Why it matters: “Producers in the United States and around the world are denied innovative tools to reduce emissions, sustainably increase production, and deploy climate-resilient technologies,” continued BIO. 

China “has effectively limited U.S. farmer access to new biotechnology traits, and by extension worked counter to the interests of American farmers and American businesses.” There’s “no evidence” China’s followed through on commitments to the Phase One trade agreement, “as the system continues to be opaque and protracted, averaging over eight years to secure an import approval for a biotech trait.” 

We’ve seen progress in the EU—but risks remain: “Both the Farm to Fork strategy and the European Commission’s recent study on New Genomic Techniques point to the importance of innovation to achieving a more sustainable food system. However, significant risks remain as Europe’s regulatory processes are fundamentally prejudiced to agricultural biotechnology.” 

Mexico remains a major problem.Mexico has not approved a new biotech product in three years; 25 products are backlogged in the queue. The government continues to make troubling statements regarding imports of corn produced with biotechnology—“explicitly stating that imports will be prohibited by 2024 and future approvals will be denied and existing approvals will be revoked.”  

The bottom line: “U.S. trade policy must be aimed at addressing existing barriers to biotechnology and facilitating regulatory approvals for critical technologies.”

More Agriculture and Environment News:

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“The vote was 76-19, with more than two dozen Republicans backing Bonnie, including farm-state lawmakers such as Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley of Iowa, John Thune and Mike Rounds of South Dakota, and Arkansas Sen. John Boozman, ranking member of the Agriculture Committee.” BIO joined a letter supporting Bonnie in July.

The latest updates on Build Back Better

Don’t check out for Thanksgiving just yet—because the House isn’t leaving for recess until they pass the Build Back Better Act, which, as it stands, includes drug price controls.

What’s happening: The House could vote as early as Thursday on President Biden’s $1.75 trillion social spending bill, per POLITICO—and Speaker Pelosi reportedly won’t let them leave for recess until it’s passed and sent to the Senate. 

Build Back Better includes a rushed and highly politicized drug pricing “deal,”which allows the government to fix prices of certain drugs. 

This provision “poses a 90% reduction in new medicines developed by small U.S. biotech companies by cutting their revenues in half,”says Eddie Pauline, President & CEO for BioOhio in the Dayton Daily News. 

Build Back Better also includes a harmful change to the Orphan Drug Tax Credit, making drugs previously approved (for other uses) ineligible for the credit—hurting the industry’s ability to research drugs for rare and orphan diseases, 95% of which have no treatment or cure.

What BIO says: “As Congress looks at this, and I think inappropriately cherry-picks one or two drugs as examples to lead the way on why the orphan-drug tax credit is, in their world, no longer necessary or perhaps being abused, I think that does a big disservice to the thousands and thousands of patients in the United States that are waiting for a treatment,” BIO’s Chief Policy Officer John Murphy told the National Journal. 

Read: New hope for rare disease patients with founding of non-profit with for-profit model 

So, what’s next? The House is waiting on the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) fiscal analysis of the bill, which could be released Thursday or Friday. While a House vote may happen before Thanksgiving, a Senate vote before the holiday is unlikely. CBS News has more on what’s next and what changes the Senate could make.

Visit www.SaveCures.com to learn more about the impact of drug price controls on patients and future cures.

More Health Care News: 

Fierce Healthcare: New Cures 2.0 bill extends key telehealth flexibilities, hastens CMS approval of medical devices
“The legislation includes major investments in medical research including the creation of a new agency to research difficult diseases such as Alzheimer’s, but also contains several reforms to Medicare reimbursement and coverage.” 

President Biden’s Wednesday: Heading to Detroit to visit GM’s electric vehicle assembly plant and talk about the infrastructure plan. The White House COVID Response Team will hold a briefing at 11 AM ET.

What’s Happening on Capitol Hill: The House could vote this week on the social spending package, per POLITICO. As noted, we’re watching the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Livestock and Foreign Agriculture hearing on trade policy and priorities (10 AM ET). Meanwhile, other committees will look at the U.S. role in COVID vaccine equity and two more U.S. Department of Agriculture nominees.