Washington, D.C. — House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy Rodgers (R-WA) released the following statement regarding President Biden’s State of the Union remarks on his treatment and cures-killing price control laws: 

“Patients around the world in search of a cure look to America and our biomedical innovation for hope. Unfortunately, President Biden’s so-called Inflation Reduction Act, has already had devastating effects on our research and development. 

“By placing government prices controls on prescription drugs, President Biden has already caused some innovators to pull the plugs on research on rare diseases, anti-bacterials, celiac, and many others. Instead of passing bipartisan legislation that would have led to more cures with lower costs, he pushed forward with a bill that gives less hope to patients and will make America more reliant on China’s drug development and manufacturing supply chains. 

“Republicans will hold this administration accountable and work to mitigate the worst parts of the law, while continuing to support legislation that will keep America at the forefront of the research and development of treatments and cures.” 

Note: As covered in the Wall Street Journal last November by Visiting Senior Fellow at the USC Schaeffer Center, Joe Grogan, in “the Inflation Reduction Act is Already Killing Potential Cures”: 

• “In its Oct. 27 earnings statement, Alnylam announced it is suspending development of a treatment for Stargardt disease, a rare eye disorder, because of the company’s need ‘to evaluate impact of the Inflation Reduction Act.’” 
• “On Tuesday, Eli Lilly announced it is canceling work on a drug that had been undergoing studies for certain blood cancers. ‘In light of the Inflation Reduction Act,’ the company wrote to Endpoints News, ‘this program no longer met our threshold for continued investment.’”