H.R. 3 is back

Yesterday, House Democrats reintroduced H.R. 3, the sweeping drug pricing bill that would handicap future medical innovation—at a time when we need it the most. 

In a nutshell, H.R. 3 would require drug manufacturers to negotiate prices with the government based on an international price index of prices paid in several other countries—here’s Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s fact sheet explaining what’s in the bill.

Yes, it’s the same H.R. 3—which House Democrats passed in 2019 and was stalled in the then-Republican-controlled Senate.

When the bill was introduced the first time, an analysis found international reference pricing would lead to as many as 56 fewer new drugs over 10 years.  

The absence of price controls in the U.S. leads to more and newer medicines available sooner to Americans. For example, of 65 new oncology drugs launched between 2011-2017, 95% were available in the United States, compared to 75% in the UK and 51% in Japan—two countries on the proposed price index.

We’ve seen this in practice over the last year—with the majority of new COVID-19 drugs being developed by U.S. companies, and Americans getting access to vaccines before many wealthy, equally developed countries.

And it would “directly inhibit” the ability of small biotechs to attract investment needed to bring cures to market, Rachel King, Co-Founder and CEO of BIO member GlycoMimetics, explained last year. “If we change the incentives and if we decrease the incentives for investing in new drugs, the money will flow out of the biotechnology industry and the United States risks losing its lead position,” said King, whose company is developing new treatments for various blood diseases.

Masters’ Message: More than a year into this deadly pandemic, we’ve seen firsthand the importance of empowering our nation’s researchers to find the scientific solutions we need to keep humanity safe and healthy. Unfortunately, this proposal, as a de-facto price control measure, would handicap future medical innovation—including for future pandemics—and destroy hope for millions of patients living with diseases for which no cures or viable treatments currently exist. – Rich Masters, BIO’s Chief Public Affairs & Advocacy Officer 

So, what’s next? We’ll be watching this closely as it moves through the Democrat-controlled House and Senate. BIO has been—and remains—committed to working with lawmakers on patient-centered reforms that boost access to lifesaving medicines and treatments without compromising the next generation of lifesaving cures.

More Health Care News:

Bloomberg: Pfizer to place 100 young minorities in new fellowship program
“Those selected will start with a 10-week summer internship, followed by two years of full-time employment at Pfizer…They’ll also get mentoring to help with their development and a fully funded scholarship to complete a master’s degree in business administration or public health.” 

Roll Call (Opinion): America’s goose that lays the golden eggs
“[O]ur state-of-the-art innovation capabilities—responsible for bringing COVID-19 vaccines and countless other breakthroughs to market—haven’t flourished here by happenstance. They have been nurtured over decades of smart policies, and those policies are now at risk.”

New approaches are required at almost every level of the economy—and biotechnology offers vital contributions to near-term GHG reductions and revolutionary tools to avert catastrophic climate change in the long term. A new report, Biotech Solutions for Climate, explains how.

On Earth Day, President Biden announced a goal to cut emissions by more than half by 2030—which would require “rapid and sweeping changes to virtually every corner of the nation’s economy,” as The New York Times put it. 

Enter biotech—which could mitigate the equivalent of 3 billion tons of carbon annually by 2030 using existing and emerging biotechnologies, our new report explains.

These tools fall in four key areas:

1. Producing sustainable biomass feedstock, which can reduce emissions of transportation and agriculture. In fact, first-generation biofuels have reduced U.S. transportation emissions by 980 million tons over the past 13 years—equivalent to taking 16 million vehicles off the road. Biotech innovations continue to lower carbon intensity—and with the right policy, we can scale up the use and deployment of low-carbon fuels. 

2. Empowering sustainable production. Manufacturing of everyday products accounts for 22% of total GHG emissions. But biomanufacturing—the use of enzymes and microorganisms in manufacturing—can reduce emissions by 80% or more relative to traditional chemical routes for a variety of chemicals and consumer products. 

3. Developing lower carbon products. This includes biobased plastics and polymers, as well as biotech ingredients for animal feed (68% reduction) and fish feed (30% reduction).

4. Enhancing carbon sequestration. We love carbon capture—and so does the planet. Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Sequestration (BECCS) could cost-effectively remove over 700 million metric tons of carbon per year by 2040—or more than half the emissions from all U.S. coal power plants.

Read the executive summary.

Read the full report.

Visit www.bio.org/earthday to learn more about how the agriculture and environment biotech sector is tackling climate change.


Additional Agriculture & Environment News:

The Cap Times: Brian Brazeau: Homegrown innovation offers climate roadmap
U.S. leaders say they hope to submit a U.S. climate plan—or nationally determined contribution (NDC)—to world leaders in time for an Earth Day summit. Of course, that task is easier said than done. Fortunately, thanks to innovations in biology, we have a window of opportunity right now to make transformational progress, especially in agricultural centers like Wisconsin.

President Biden’s Friday: The virtual climate summit continues today. This afternoon, President Biden will participate in a virtual U.S. Department of Defense Senior Leaders Conference. The COVID-19 Response Team will hold a briefing at 11 AM ET, and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland will join a press briefing shortly after.

What’s Happening on Capitol Hill: The Senate Finance Committee held a hearing yesterday on improving U.S. competitiveness with China through trade. Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) began by describing the decades-long effort by the Chinese government to “manipulate global competition” as one of the most significant challenges facing the U.S. economy, highlighting IP theft, forced labor, and unfair subsidies. He commended the bipartisan effort to draft legislation on the matter, so the U.S. can outcompete China. Of note, in response to questioning from Ranking Member Mike Crapo (R-ID), Clete Willems—former deputy assistant to the president for international economics and a key trade negotiator who helped litigate 30+ WTO disputes on behalf of the United States—expressed opposition to the proposed TRIPS waiver, saying IP has not been an impediment to vaccine distribution. (Watch around 2:56:30.)