Congressional action continues on drug pricing with the focus remaining on H.R. 3, the U.S. House Majority proposal to address drug costs. Three Congressional Committees – the Committees on Ways and Means, Education and Labor, and Energy and Commerce, respectively – have passed the legislation on party-line votes. However, a vote of the full U.S. House of Representatives has been delayed while lawmakers await a full Congressional Budget Office (CBO) score of the legislation. Consideration of the final proposal has slipped to sometime after November 12.
In the meantime, in a letter to New Jersey’s Members of Congress, BioNJ President and CEO Debbie Hart articulated BioNJ's concerns with H.R. 3’s impact on both Patients and the life sciences sector in New Jersey. Hart urged New Jersey’s House delegation to reconsider H.R. 3’s coercive approach to “negotiation” in favor of bipartisan efforts to improve Patient access, lower Patient out-of-pocket costs and protect innovation in the Garden State and beyond.