As the holiday season closes in, the U.S. Senate continues working on national defense authorization and other issues as deliberations proceed on the fate of the House-passed Build Back Better Act. Congress has cleared the deck of at least one must-pass issue when it sent a continuing resolution funding the federal government into February to President Biden for his signature. The other standing issue of national importance is the statutory debt ceiling that may be reached as soon as today that sets the amount of money the U.S. Department of Treasury can borrow. As those negotiations move forward, the final provisions of the Build Back Better Act remain in flux. Partisan meetings with the Senate Parliamentarian are rumored to have started with a focus on provisions that might not comport with Senate budget rules. Stay tuned as Congress looks to continue its work on the reconciliation process as the holiday season approaches.

With the U.S. House passing its drug pricing proposal, now is truly the time to contact the New Jersey congressional delegation to express your concerns with the impact these proposals will have on both innovation and Patient access. We know that the government price controls included in the House-passed Build Back Better Act will inevitably lead to a decline in investment in research and development and fewer treatments for the Patients who need them the most. Now is the time to ensure policymakers understand the ramifications of these policies on Patient access to groundbreaking therapies and New Jersey’s vibrant biopharmaceutical ecosystem.

Click here for BioNJ’s Policy Alert on this important issue.

Closer to home here in New Jersey, A-2418/S-1066, legislation to create a Prescription Drug Affordability Board, was considered at a December 13 hearing of the New Jersey Assembly Appropriations Committee. BioNJ President and CEO Debbie Hart was on hand to testify on this proposal with a message that a Prescription Drug Affordability Board is the wrong way to lower Patient out-of-pocket costs. Rather than taking a systemwide, holistic approach that addresses the drug supply chain middlemen, coinsurance, co-payments and health benefit design issues that can have the biggest impact on Patient costs, PDAB proposals focus squarely on the innovative biopharmaceutical sector without any guarantee of Patient savings on necessary and lifesaving prescription treatments.

We believe we can do better. We stand committed in support of commonsense proposals that will enhance Patient access. We hope you will stand with us and the Patients we serve in opposition to the Prescription Drug Affordability Board proposal. Now is the time to contact your legislator to express concerns with further consideration of this proposal during the lame duck session.

Click here to send a letter to your legislator.

The New Jersey Legislature’s lame ducks session also included a December 6 meeting of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee to consider a number of legislative initiatives. S-4127 was among the bills passed during the Committee hearing. Introduced by Senate Budget Chair Paul Sarlo and Senator Steven Oroho, S-4127 would provide for a New Jersey version of IRS Section 1202, allowing for capital gains exclusions for certain Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS) held for at least five years. This proposal has long been a BioNJ priority and was included as a recommendation in NJEDA’s "Biotechnology Task Force Final Report and Recommendations" and BioNJ’s 2018 "The New Jersey Biopharma Industry: A Prescription for Growth" report. We thank Senators Sarlo and Oroho for their efforts in support of the “State of Innovation". We look forward to working with the Senate sponsors as well as Assembly Sponsors John Burzichelli, Andrew Zwicker and Roy Freiman to send this proposal to the Governor’s desk.

General Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin has announced that long-time Assembly Majority Office Executive Director and former Assemblyman Anthony “Skip” Cimino will be leaving his post in the Assembly Majority Office. Speaker Coughlin also announced that current Deputy Executive Director Seth Hahn will be the new Assembly Majority Office Executive Director.

Click here for BioNJ President and CEO Debbie Hart’s statement on Skip Cimino’s retirement.

More information is available here.