Price controls, patent waivers, and Mexico's biotech policies

Let’s dive right in. 

Is Speaker Pelosi’s drug pricing plan under threat?POLITICO says it might be, after 10 centrist Democrats sent her a letter earlier this month calling for “working collaboratively in a bipartisan manner” on health care access and affordability.

Led by Reps. Scott Peters (D-CA) and Jake Auchincloss (D-MA), the letter signals potential opposition to H.R. 3, citing the need to address ALL costs—“premiums and co-pays, price of medicines, or expense of care”—and recognizing “public-private partnership that encourages world-leading biomedical research and development.” 

Meanwhile, Senators also pushed back on Biden’s plans to support a waiver on COVID-19 vaccine patents, during yesterday’s Senate HELP Committee hearing on the COVID-19 response featuring Dr. Anthony Fauci and CDC Director Rochelle Walensky. 

“Intellectual property protections are part of the reason we have” COVID-19 vaccines,said Ranking Member Richard Burr (R-NC)—watch. 

“If these protections are not in place for innovators of life-saving medicines, we will not have them for the next pandemic. It’s that simple,” he continued, explaining that “partnerships” are how we support vaccine manufacturing and distribution.

This comes on the heels of a letter to President Biden from Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT), which says suspending vaccine patents would “fail to significantly speed up vaccine distribution to the rest of the world” and “set a dangerous precedent.”  

“U.S. IP laws encourage robust innovation and investment, which is one of the reasons why we are able to be a global leader in vaccines and many other innovative therapies,” the letter continues.  

What’s next? U.S. Trade Rep. Ambassador Katherine Tai will appear before the U.S. Senate Finance Committee today and the U.S. House Ways & Means Committee tomorrow. The TRIPS waiver will definitely come up, so stay tuned.

More Health Care News: 

Reuters: Novavax combined influenza/COVID-19 vaccine shows promise in animal study
“Novavax said on Monday its combined flu and COVID-19 vaccine produced functional antibodies against influenza and the coronavirus in a preclinical study.” 

VOA: Germany makes Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine available to all adults
“The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has said blood clots should be listed as a rare side effect of both the Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca shots but that the benefits continue to outweigh risks.”

Amid the maelstrom of climate change, COVID-19, and economic turmoil, Mexico has turned its back on biotechnology—which is critical to the pandemic response, and to a greener and more resilient global economy. We unpack what’s going on and why. 

Less than a year after confirming its commitment to North American trade through the U.S.-Mexico-Canada (USCMA) agreement, the Government of Mexico—under the leadership of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO)—has erected non-tariff trade barriers across multiple sectors, we explain in a new blog post.   

In addition, several months ago, the AMLO administration announced the planned phase-out of imports of biotech corn. Both impractical and anti-science, this decree denigrates a technology critical to addressing climate change and sustainability in the ag sector. 

The AMLO administration has also fallen out of step with other countries in the Western Hemisphere in its failure to define and promulgate a regulatory approach towards gene-edited agricultural products. This failure to act threatens to delay or curtail the introduction of crops and animals produced through innovations, such as CRISPR-Cas9.

“Mexico’s current management of biotech import approvals disincentivizes innovation,”says Matt O’Mara, BIO’s Vice President for International Affairs. “Anything you grow in the United States, the farmer is going to first think about, ‘What’s my market going to be?’” 

“This situation will not fix itself,” O’Mara continues. “Depending on the results of upcoming legislative elections in June, there could be a shift in tone in Mexico if AMLO’s party loses political ground. On the other hand, I can imagine three more years of the same stultifying regulatory environment.” 

What’s next? Mexico’s policies will be front and center during congressional hearings today at the U.S. Senate Finance Committee and tomorrow at the U.S. House Ways & Means Committee on President Biden’s 2021 trade policy agenda, featuring U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai. We’ll be watching. 

Read more.

More Agriculture and Environment News: 

AquaBounty: AquaBounty sells out the first commercial-scale harvest of genetically engineered Atlantic salmon from its Indiana farm
“AquaBounty’s sustainable land-based operations have a lower carbon footprint with reduced transportation requirements than Atlantic salmon that we import from other suppliers, and that’s exactly what this industry needs to feed a growing population,” said Joe Lasprogata, Vice President, New Product Development at Samuels and Son Seafood Co., a Philadelphia-based seafood distributor of AquaBounty’s Atlantic salmon. “AquaBounty’s genetically engineered salmon is a reliable and efficient source of salmon that is a product of the U.S.A., tastes delicious and looks great. We can’t wait to share this with our customers.”

President Biden’s Wednesday: Meeting with bipartisan congressional leadership—his first meeting with Sen. Mitch McConnell and Rep. Kevin McCarthy, per The Hill—then delivering remarks on COVID-19 vaccinations at 3:30 PM ET.

What’s Happening on Capitol Hill: At 9:30 AM ET, the Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing, The President’s 2021 Trade Policy Agenda, feat. U.S. Trade Rep. Ambassador Katherine Tai. Expect COVID-19 patents, Mexico, and China to be discussed. Meanwhile, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra will testify before the House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Health on the department’s FY 22 budget.