America leads the world in biomedical innovation, and a Kamala Harris Administration poses an existential threat to that discovery and innovation, costing lives and jobs.
Innovation has long been driven by strong intellectual property protections, strong federal investments in medical research funding, and supportive tax and regulatory policies. Produce almost twice as much medicine This is on par with European countries and nearly four times that of Japan. This leadership has not only led to groundbreaking medical advances, it has given Americans unprecedented access to new medicines. Between 2015 and 2021, 74% of new active ingredients approved in the US before being approved in other countries.
Vice President Kamala Harris is proposing radical policies that would undermine America's continued success as a medical innovator.The video was recently discoveredHarris' loss in the 2020 presidential election exposed her uneasy views on how the federal government should handle private companies' patents.
“I took away their patents, [the federal government] “I'm willing to take it over,” Harris said. “Yes, I can! The question is, 'Are you willing to do it?' I am willing to do it.”
Harris acknowledged that she intended to knowingly abuse her power.Bayh-Dole ActI am especially worried about whether she will be able to achieve her goal.The authors of the law made it clearThe intended purpose is to encourage innovation, not give the government the power to set prices, and this positionRepeatedly confirmed by bipartisan votes.
This approach is seen in authoritarian countries like Venezuela and China. Whether you call it socialism or communism, it's not capitalism, and it's not mainstream. Even Howard Dean, the progressive who served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, He criticized the Biden-Harris effort. Weakening patent protections is “the wrong way to lower drug prices” and threatens America's global leadership, manufacturing base, and life-saving research and development ecosystem.
If things go as Harris hopes, American intellectual property will be destroyed. ResearcherStartups,Small and medium-sized enterprisesWould-be entrepreneurs and job creators will pack up, close their projects, and move elsewhere, denying patients critical care and further destroying our domestic manufacturing base, a critical asset for our national security and working families.
To make matters worse, Harris also wants to expand.Anti-competitive and restrictive price controlsImplemented through the misleadingly named Stop Inflation Act, for which Harris cast the deciding tie-breaking vote in the Senate, government price controls devastate innovation and discourage investment in the high-risk, long-term research essential to progress and breakthroughs, as we have already seen in the former Soviet Union and Venezuela.
Just two years after the law went into effect, the drug price fix is showing signs of negatively impacting the elderly and those desperately waiting for new life-saving medicines. be hit by rising costs meanwhile Investment in research and development has declined and vital research has been discontinued.
This is similar to many otherHarmfulImpact on American consumers.
Clinical trials have already begunA 15 percent decrease by 2023andAlready 36 research programs and 21 drugs have been discontinued.
The situation could get even worse, according to a University of Chicago analysis, which projects that IRA price controls could result in the loss of 188 small molecule therapeutics and 116 million lives lost worldwide due to missed opportunities to expand medical innovation.
These aren't just hypothetical statistics; they represent a major obstacle to patients seeking new treatments for cancer, Alzheimer's, multiple sclerosis, psychiatric illnesses, and more.
Pricing policies would not only stifle new drug development, they could put the entire bioeconomy at risk, costing up to 800,000 jobs and severely impacting the small businesses that conduct the majority of clinical trials. As lawmakers work to reduce drug costs, the risks of higher prices, fewer life-saving medicines, less innovation, and lost jobs and lives are too great to ignore.
Doing more to strengthen this failed policy would only be a recipe for disaster, but that is exactly what a Harris Administration would do.
As if weakening intellectual property protections and forcing price fixing weren't enough, HarrisAbolition of private health insuranceandSupport for useAmericans' hard-earned tax dollars are being used to pay for the medical care of illegal immigrants.
I would not introduce national price controls,A bipartisan solution The priorities of lowering drug prices while preserving innovation are not mutually exclusive, and last year I worked with my opponents to advance commonsense measures that would reduce burdens for patients.Increase transparency andIncrease consumer choiceBut Harris' proposal would undermine both affordability and innovation. Most importantly, price controls would jeopardize access to new treatments for patients in desperate need.
Harris' First major policy proposal During her campaign, she called for greater government control of private industry and socialist price controls on everything from food to housing to medicine. If she succeeded, her policies would be a colossal disaster for all Americans, costing no one could afford.
Thom Tillis is the ranking member of the Judiciary Intellectual Property Subcommittee.
