Statement of Robert K. Coughlin President & CEO of MassBio on the Passage of H.R. 3

Dec 12, 2019

“Members of the House who voted to pass H.R. 3 are now on record as supporting fewer new medicines coming to the market each year. They seem to believe this is a good thing and that reducing biopharmaceutical companies’ revenues by more than $400 billion will simply lead to companies forgoing development of “me too” drugs or low-value therapies. In fact, if this bill comes law, the opposite is a much more likely outcome. H.R. 3’s use of an international price index as the cap on negotiated drug prices in Medicare means the research into the hardest to crack scientific questions will no longer happen because the return on investment no longer exists. Companies with newly restricted revenues will likely steer toward proven, safe science and away from the tougher R&D. And investors are likely to severely limit new funding toward smaller, private, pre-revenue companies that tackle the riskiest, most expensive work necessary to find the next therapy or cure for diseases with limited to no existing treatments like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, pancreatic cancer, and heart disease.”

– Robert K. Coughlin, President & CEO of MassBio

 

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