Biocom: Speaker Pelosi’s Drug Pricing Legislation Would Hurt California’s Innovation Ecosystem

SAN DIEGO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#Biocom–Biocom, the association representing the life science industry of California, issued the following statement in response to a drug pricing proposal unveiled by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and sponsored by Energy & Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone – H.R.3, the Lower Drug Costs Now Act – in the U.S. House of Representatives today.

This statement may be attributed to Joe Panetta, president and CEO of Biocom:

“On behalf of California’s life sciences community, we are deeply concerned with Speaker Pelosi’s newly released legislation, which proposes to import foreign price controls on medicines that treat patients here in the U.S. and impose extreme penalties on U.S. innovators, including an excise tax up to 95 percent of manufacturers’ annual sales and severe civil monetary penalties.

The U.S. produces two thirds of the world’s medicines and gives hope to millions of patients around the world. Such a sweeping proposal sends the wrong message to innovators and investors who need a solid, fair and value-based market environment to research and develop the next-generation of breakthrough medicines. California, which is one of the world’s leaders in biomedical innovation, would be among the first to suffer.

We respectfully oppose H.R.3, but we remain available to work with the bill’s sponsors on legislation that focuses on reducing patients’ out-of-pocket costs, sharing negotiated savings with patients at the pharmacy counter and increasing cost transparency.”

Click here to view the legislation. Click here to view a section-by-section summary.