BIO warns Pelosi's drug pricing bill will stifle new drug development

The USA’s Biotechnology Innovation Organization’s (BIO), after the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released an analysis confirming that Bill HR 3 will lead to fewer new medicines for patients, issued its own warning.

BIO president and chief executive Jim Greenwood said: “The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has confirmed what we have been saying: Speaker [Nancy] 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 start-ups rely on to fund their research and development.