The following is an excerpt from the BioWorld story, “SEC reform good for life sciences startups, but getting pushback,” published on July 8, 2026 and authored by Mari Serebrov.
Of all the U.S. SEC’s recent proposed rules to make going, and staying, public more attractive, perhaps the most beneficial for biopharma and med-tech startups is the amendment that would give public companies the flexibility to file semi-annual rather than quarterly reports, Ben Bradford, head of external affairs at Massbio, told BioWorld.
For capital-intensive, early stage drug and device companies, that change would allow them to focus their limited resources on developing the science instead of regulatory reporting, he explained. While an SEC analysis found that going from quarterly to semi-annual reporting could save a company about $200,000 a year, Bradford said the biggest savings for drug and device companies would be the time involved in filing those reports.
He also pointed out that for startups with no revenue stream yet, clinical trial data drives investment – not quarterly reports.
The reforms, if adopted, also could help U.S. life sciences companies remain competitive in global markets, Bradford said. While no single regulatory change, in and of itself, will necessarily solve all the challenges facing the industry, he said, agencies across the government can work together to strengthen innovation through efforts such as the SEC reforms and Health and Human Services’ Operation Trailblazer initiatives to streamline early stage drug development.
“We can’t regulate our way into biotech leadership. We’re going to have to innovate our way there,” Bradford said. That will require a concentrated innovative strategy from many agencies, he added.
It also will require a steady, predictable path regardless of who’s in office. There’s “nothing that industry and investors like less than uncertainty,” Bradford said. “And whiplash causes a lot of uncertainty.”