IRA's real-world impacts, childhood vaccination views

Today, we have insight from BIO on the Inflation Reduction Act’s real-world impacts—which have already begun—and new data on childhood vaccination and the public’s faltering support. (735 words, 3 minutes, 40 seconds)

How to understand the IRA’s real-world impacts

The White House is getting ready to announce the first tranche of prices under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), but companies have already been changing how they invest in future breakthroughs. Two misleading studies ignore this reality, BIO explains.

Dubious data: The two analyses from Bentley University include several shortcomings:

• They failed to consider future revenues when assessing the impact, incorrectly suggesting that decisions about clinical trial investments were divorced from pricing concerns.
• They used components of the consumer price index and the producer price index data as a proxy for brand-name drug prices, which do not accurately reflect prices paid for innovative treatments.
• They lump together small companies with mid-size firms with valuations as large as $7 billion, giving a distorted picture of the impact on small companies.

Ignoring economic realities: The Bentley research acknowledges that revenue—which includes considerations of price—drives R&D spending at pharmaceutical companies but denies such an association at biotech companies. (BIO explains more.)

BIO’s view: Ensuring that laws such as the IRA do not have unexpected consequences or diminish patient-centric innovation requires a clear-eyed view of how legislation operates in the real world, where changes to the marketplace inevitably influence R&D decisions. 

Read more at Bio.News.

Childhood vaccination saved 1 million lives – but public support falters

Although a new report shows childhood vaccination saved over a million lives and prevented half a billion illnesses over the past 30 years, a recent poll finds Americans give less importance to immunization for children.

From 1994 to 2023, childhood vaccination prevented approximately 508 million cases of illness, 32 million hospitalizations, and 1,129,000 deaths, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Economic benefits included direct savings of $540 billion and societal savings of $2.7 trillion.

But: “Fewer Americans today consider childhood vaccines important, with 40% saying it is extremely important for parents to have their children vaccinated, down from 58% in 2019 and 64% in 2001,” finds a new Gallup poll.

A ‘bare majority’: Support for vaccination against infectious diseases like measles dropped from 81% in 1992, to 62% in 2019, to just 51% today.

Why it matters: Declines in vaccination since the pandemic have enabled 203 cases of measles in the U.S. this year, and more in Europe, even though a vaccine available since the 1960s officially eradicated measles in the U.S. and Europe.

BIO’s view: “The rise of measles is of great concern—a very safe and effective vaccine is available to prevent the disease and greatly decrease the burden on children, parents, schools, and the entire healthcare ecosystem,” notes Phyllis Arthur, BIO EVP and Head of Healthcare Policy and Programs. 

Read more at Bio.News.

What Else to Know This Week

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved VORANIGO, the first targeted therapy for a type of malignant brain tumor. VORANIGO is the first significant treatment breakthrough in nearly 25 years for Grade 2 IDH mutant glioma, BIO member Servier announced. “Diffuse gliomas with IDH mutations represent the most common malignant primary brain tumors diagnosed in adults younger than 50 years of age,” says Servier. “They are not curable with current therapies and without treatment they continue to grow and infiltrate normal brain tissue.” Read more at Bio.News.

APHIS announces FY25 funding opportunities to support animal disease preparedness and response. The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is seeking proposals for the National Animal Disease Preparedness and Response Program (NADPRP). Up to $16.5 million will be available to support new projects in FY 2025. Visit APHIS Funding Opportunities or APHIS NADPRP to learn more.

ICYMI: BIO traveled to Taipei for BIO Asia-Taiwan. The event brought together the industry for BIO One-on-One Partnering and educational sessions, as well as remarks from BIO President & CEO John F. Crowley, who described the partnership with a Taiwanese scientist that helped save his kids’ lives. Read more at Bio.News.

Beltway Report: What's Ahead in Washington

The White House may announce results of drug price “negotiations” on Thursday, POLITICO reports. The prices set for the first 10 drugs under the Inflation Reduction Act—through a coercive process misleadingly called “negotiation”—are due to be announced by Sept. 1. “While it’s unclear how specific the officials will get, the government is expected to highlight the savings that patients can expect starting in 2026” on Thursday, POLITICO says.

Meanwhile, the country is getting to know Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, VP Kamala Harris’s pick for her own No. 2. Bloomberg has more about his record on health, while Agri-Pulse revisits a 2016 interview in which he discussed the Farm Bill and other issues.