Lower Drug Costs Now Act of 2019

Floor Speech

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Mr. GOTTHEIMER. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of my amendment to H.R. 3, the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act of 2019.

My amendment will ensure continued innovation and research to further the development of lifesaving medicines for rare diseases, including cancer, Alzheimer's, ALS, and rare disorders.

The challenge now is that, at best, only 1 out of every 20 clinical trials result in a cure. This, of course, means that manufacturers invest billions before they can find a medicine that can go to market to help save lives. They don't just bet on the winners; they have to also bet and take a lot of risks that don't turn out to succeed and get to market.

America has the best medical innovators in the world. When our health is on the line, we can't stop taking those risks to make sure that we find those cures. We can't risk falling behind.

My amendment provides investment in qualified clinical testing for drug applications that address unmet medical needs to treat rare and life-threatening diseases, diseases that may go unaddressed without extra incentives. My amendment requires HHS to conduct a study to identify diseases without an FDA-approved treatment and where the development of a treatment would fill an unmet medical need for these rare diseases.

My amendment also requires HHS to identify appropriate incentives that would ensure the continued investment in the development of these treatments, treatments that will save lives of the children, adults, and seniors of our families.

The Congressional Budget Office and other studies have shown potential reductions in the number of drug approvals each year as a potential risk of H.R. 3. This amendment helps address that concern.

Targeted therapies and medicines serving smaller populations stand to lose the most from this blow to R&D. These are areas where the science is the most difficult but also the most important, such as cancers and other rare diseases. Cures for these horrific diseases could always be just around the corner, but not if we are forced to abandon what might be the next cure.

While I appreciate the intention of H.R. 3 to reinvest savings in medical research, including at NIH and FDA, without this amendment, there would still be no clear answer to explain what might happen to the incredible research and development work that occurs every day in the private sector. This amendment addresses that.

I know how critical NIH funding is and have consistently advocated for increasing the investment in research there. However, NIH does not manufacture medication, and neither does the FDA. The private sector, including all the research being done every day in my home State of New Jersey, manufactures the lifesaving medications that Americans rely on every single day.

It is also why my Republican colleague from Michigan, Fred Upton, and I introduced bipartisan legislation this week, the Protecting America's Life Saving Medicines Act, to ensure that life sciences companies continue to invest in these innovative drugs with a tax credit for qualified clinical research, again, to ensure that this research keeps getting done and that they keep making the bets on moonshot drugs that, without those investments, might not save lives like they do today, again, in the greatest country in the world where we innovate like no one else.

It is critical that we never give up hope that the next cure is within our reach. My amendment today will help us to reach the goal of curing our most life-threatening diseases.

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Mr. GOTTHEIMER. Mr. Chair, I thank the ranking member for his thoughtful comments and his thoughts about what I think is clearly an unmet need and one we need to continue to invest in, so I thank him for his leadership, too, sir.

Before I finish, let me just say that I urge all my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this amendment, because we need to keep making those investments to keep our leadership as a country when it comes to R&D innovation. It is one of the reasons why our country is so great and why so many lives have been saved and so many families and children helped.

We need to make sure that we get drug prices down overall, which is why this legislation is so important, to make sure we have competition, more development of generics in the marketplace and, of course, overall the best quality healthcare in the world. It is critical for our country.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. GOTTHEIMER. Mr. Chair, I demand a recorded vote.

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