Capitol Hill Briefing Unveils New Data Behind the ‘Epic’ EPIC Act

The lead sponsors of the Ensuring Pathways to Innovative Cures (EPIC) Act addressed a room full of Congressional office employees and public health stakeholders on April 10, making the case for why the EPIC Act benefits America’s economy and patient health.

“I truly believe EPIC is epic, y’all,” Congressman Don Davis (D-NC) said.

Congressman Greg Murphy (R-NC) said in video remarks: “The government does not need to pick winners and losers” among medication types.

 “As a doctor, I want to be able to prescribe medications that people can take at home, in their own environment, rather than having to travel hours. …This is critical that we have education and making sure that people understand what’s going on.”

New numbers back them up.

We Work For Health hosted a data-intensive briefing Thursday on Capitol Hill, presenting findings from a Vital Transformation (VT) study. The research shows a radical decline in research and development for small molecules, which are the pills, tablets and other prescribed drugs commonly found in medicine cabinets. They fight conditions like cardiovascular disease, neurological disorders and certain cancers.

More than 90% of U.S. prescriptions today are small molecules.

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) placed small-molecule medicines on uneven financial footing compared to biologics. Small molecules became eligible for federal price setting after nine years. For biologics, it’s 13 years.

This imbalance, commonly called the “pill penalty,” predictably cut more than cost.

Since the IRA was introduced, funding for small molecule innovation has been slashed by 70%. VT CEO Duane Schulthess presented that figure and many others at the briefing when sharing a panel with Dan Leonard, Executive Director at We Work For Health; Ipsita Smolinski, Managing Director of Capitol Streel; and Adina Lasser, Director of Public Policy and Government Relations at the Alliance for Aging Research.

Schulthess called the trend “an exodus of innovation.” The rest of the panel contextualized the study, including how the EPIC Act can help stabilize market volatility for investors and how both the Medicare-aged population and caregivers suffer from reduced access to small molecules.