Nonpartisan Budget Experts Warn Speaker Pelosi’s Drug Pricing Bill will Stifle the Development of New Medicines

Washington – BIO’s President and CEO Jim Greenwood issued the following statement after the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released an analysis confirming that H.R. 3 will lead to fewer new medicines for patients:

“The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has confirmed what we have been saying: Speaker Pelosi’s reckless bill will stifle the discovery of new medicines and treatments. The same lawmakers who recently championed the bipartisan 21st Century Cures Act are now threatening to destroy the very industry that will deliver the future cures and treatments we need. We need to accelerate the pace of cures, not create policies that endure fewer treatments come to market as CBO cautions will happen.

“This assault on an innovative industry will be especially devastating for patients—as CBO admits that patients will see access issues. It will also devastate smaller biotechs that lead 7 in 10 clinical trials and are scattered in communities all across the country, including in Speaker Pelosi’s own backyard. Industry analysts have predicted time and again that the heavy-handed approach taken in this bill will dry up the private investment these startups rely on to fund their research and development.

“Our small companies are eager to help craft real solutions that ensure all patients can afford their medicines if lawmakers will have courage to reject this extreme bill, which focuses only on drug innovators and leaves insurance companies and other middlemen untouched. A holistic solution is the only way to ensure patients actually see reduced out of pocket costs and benefit from new cures and therapies in the future.”

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