Incubate applauds introduction of EPIC Act in the Senate

/EIN News/ -- Washington, DC, March 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- This week, Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC), Ted Budd (R-NC), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), James Lankford (R-OK), and Steve Daines (R-MT) introduced the Ensuring Pathways to Innovative Cures (EPIC) Act, which would amend the Inflation Reduction Act to give all drugs the same 13-year exemption from price controls following FDA approval.

Incubate executive director John Stanford issued the following statement:

"Thank you to Senators Tillis, Budd, Blackburn, Lankford, and Daines for their dedicated work to protect the future of medical innovation by addressing the pill penalty. This provision of the IRA unfairly imposes price controls on easy-to-take pills and other small-molecule medicines four years earlier than on large-molecule biologics, which are generally more expensive and require hospital or clinic administration.

"A recent Incubate survey found that 87% of investors are less interested in funding small molecule research because of the IRA's pill penalty. Investment in small-molecule treatments has dropped a staggering 70% since lawmakers first considered the pill penalty.

"Since the IRA was passed into law, biotech companies have been forced to cut 40 research programs and discontinue 22 drugs, according to Incubate's Life Sciences Investment Tracker.

"The EPIC Act would eliminate the pill penalty and ensure that investment flows to the experimental medicines with the greatest medical potential -- regardless of their molecular weight."

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About Incubate

Incubate is a 501(c)(4) organization of venture capital firms representing the patient, corporate, and investment communities. Our primary aim is to educate policymakers on the role of venture capital in bringing promising treatments to patients in need.

Lucia Orlandi
                    Incubate
                    8123634434
                    lucia@keybridge.biz