|
|
|
Ending the week with a recap of yesterday’s hearing on the Inflation Reduction Act and a closer look at the winners of BIO’s agriculture and environment awards. (616 words, 3 minutes, 4 seconds) |
|
|
|
|
Hearing: IRA drug price controls hurt access and raise costs |
|
|
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) included a misguided plan to control prices that will only result in costlier medicine and reduced access, lawmakers and experts said in a House hearing yesterday. Unhappy anniversary: During the hearing, “The Inflation Reduction Act: A Year in Review,” the House Oversight Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services learned how price controls in the approximately 1-year-old law harm biotech innovation.
By allowing the government to “dictate arbitrary prices on drugs,” the law disrupts normal market mechanisms and risks the supply of drugs, said Chair Lisa McClain (R-MI), likening the effort to President Jimmy Carter’s failed energy price controls in the 1970s.
Market uncertainty: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) decision on the first 10 drugs was secretive and based on unpredictable guidance, sowing uncertainty in the market, said White. CMS consumes $3 billion in federal funds to implement price controls, he added.
Reduced access: “In the UK, for example, they’ve had a similar system in place, for several of decades. They have access to about half as many medicines as people in the United States,” said White.
The bottom line: “Drug price controls risk the future of investment in research and development of the innovative treatments Americans need the most,” Chair McClain said.
Watch: “Negotiations” is code language for “government price controls,” said Chair McClain. |
|
|
|
More Health News: Axios: Legal battle over drug negotiations could collide with 2024 race
“A federal judge in Ohio on Friday will hear oral arguments on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's request to halt the program before Oct. 1, the deadline for companies to agree to Medicare negotiations on the first 10 selected drugs.” Bloomberg: Superbugs are ‘dangerously high’ threat in Greece, India, Turkey
“In these countries, more than 40% of all infections caused by a dozen key pathogens are predicted to evade antibiotic therapy by 2035,” said an OECD report released Thursday. |
|
|
|
|
BIO honors innovators with Rosalind Franklin and George Washington Carver awards |
|
|
BIO recognized two trailblazing leaders in agricultural, environmental, and industrial biotech—let’s meet them.
The winners: Dr. Pam Marrone, Co-founder of Invasive Species Corp., is the recipient of the Rosalind Franklin Award for Leadership in Industrial Biotechnology and Agriculture. Dr. Hank Harris, Emeritus Professor of Iowa State University, won the George Washington Carver Award for Leadership in Agriculture and Environmental Biotechnology.
The Rosalind Franklin Award is named for the woman who helped identify the structure of DNA, and this year’s winner, Dr. Marrone, has founded several innovative companies.
Biodiversity through biotech: Dr. Marrone currently chairs Invasive Species Corp, which develops environmentally friendly, biobased solutions to control invasive species, which negatively impact biodiversity and the climate. |
|
|
|
The George Washington Carver Award, sponsored by the Iowa Biotechnology Association, is named for the acclaimed scientist who pioneered sustainable biobased products and materials. This year’s winner, Dr. Harris, founded Harrisvaccines, makers of several vaccines for pigs and poultry.
mRNA for animals: Dr. Harris’s latest company, Genvax Technologies, develops mRNA/nanoparticle vaccines for livestock.
BIO’s take: “It’s thanks to leaders like Dr. Marrone and Dr. Harris that biotech is developing breakthrough solutions in areas such as food security, climate change and the health of animals and our broader society,” said BIO CEO Rachel King. “We are proud to honor them and look forward to their discoveries yet to come.”
Read more on Bio.News. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
President Biden’s Friday: No official events scheduled.
What’s Happening on Capitol Hill: The House and Senate are off today after a busy week. Hearings we’ll be watching next week: Tuesday, the House Oversight Committee will holds a hearing on pharmacy benefit managers. Wednesday, the House Energy and Commerce Oversight Subcommittee will hold a hearing on IRA's price setting scheme. |
|
|
|
|
