CLSA Disappointed by House Passage of H.R. 3, Legislation That Will Short-Circuit Treatments for Patients and California Innovation

California Life Sciences Association (CLSA), the trade association representing California's life sciences sector, issued the following statement expressing deep concerns by the U.S. House passage of H.R. 3, the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act of 2019, legislation that will slash life-saving R&D for patients and lead to the devastation of California's biopharmaceutical sector. The measure passed by a vote of 230 to 192.

Upon passage of the bill, Mike Guerra, President & CEO of CLSA released the following statement:

"California Life Sciences Association (CLSA) is deeply disappointed by today's U.S. House passage of H.R. 3. This harmful legislation will implement international reference pricing (foreign price controls) by tying U.S. medicine list prices to those set abroad, resulting in a catastrophic impact on patient choice and access to medicines, and impairing the development of new treatments for unmet medical needs.

"New data indicates that by incorporating foreign price controls into the Medicare Part D program alone, H.R. 3 would cause a 58% reduction in industry revenue, significantly reducing the investment capital available for partnerships and licensing agreements with emerging companies, and therefore lead to an 88% reduction in new medicines developed by small U.S. biotech companies. Further, the legislation is expected to eliminate over 80,000 high-paying biotech R&D jobs nationwide.

"Simply put, H.R. 3 is the wrong path to lower drug costs for patients. Americans want healthcare to be less expensive. We also want our healthcare to be the most innovative in the world. The key to simultaneously achieving both of these goals is good public policy, but H.R. 3 misses the mark. We cannot afford to short-circuit life-saving innovation occurring in California's world-leading biomedical sector. On behalf of California's life sciences innovators, a sector with more than 3,400 firms employing over 958,000 people, CLSA stands ready to work with our bipartisan California Delegation in the House and Senate on legislation that will support California's continued leadership in life sciences innovation, and meaningfully deliver affordable, accessible, and innovative therapies for patients who need them."

Additional Resources

• Read two pager regarding the impact of H.R. 3 on the U.S. and California.
• Read CLSA op-ed in STAT News regarding flaws of H.R. 3, "H.R. 3 is the wrong path to lower drug costs."
• Read CLSA and Biocom letter to the bipartisan California Congressional Delegation expressing our concerns with H.R. 3.
• Read the Multi-state life science association letter, led by CLSA and cosigned by 44 state and regional associations from 41 states and territories, expressing concerns about international reference pricing.
• Learn more about H.R. 3.
• Learn More about the California life sciences sector
• View CLSA's Legislative Action Center
• Watch CLSA's Faces of California Biomedical Innovation Web Series
• View Upcoming CLSA events
• Meet the CLSA Board of Directors

About California Life Sciences Association (CLSA)

California Life Sciences Association (CLSA) is the state's largest and most influential life sciences advocacy and business leadership organization. With offices in Sacramento, San Diego, South San Francisco, Los Angeles and Washington DC, CLSA works closely with industry, government, academia and others to shape public policy, improve access to innovative technologies and grow California's life sciences economy. CLSA serves biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medical device and diagnostics companies, research universities and institutes, investors and service providers throughout the Golden State. CLSA was founded in 2015 when the Bay Area Bioscience Association (BayBio) and the California Healthcare Institute (CHI) merged. Visit CLSA at www.califesciences.org, and follow us on Twitter @CALifeSciences, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.