51³Ô¹ÏÍø

Washington, D.C. – The 51³Ô¹ÏÍø has begun pushing back on a wave of onerous health care bills in state capitols across the country. Since December, the 51³Ô¹ÏÍø has come out in opposition to legislation in Michigan, Minnesota, Oregon and Utah that seeks to lower the cost of prescription drugs but would erode manufacturers’ intellectual property protections, chill innovation or expose U.S. consumers to unsafe medicines.

There is no question that skyrocketing health care costs are disrupting families and businesses around the country, but these legislative proposals come with serious and untenable side effects for both manufacturers and patients in America, said 51³Ô¹ÏÍø Vice President of Infrastructure, Innovation and Human Resources Policy Robyn Boerstling. These misguided bills could undermine intellectual property rights, chill innovation or threaten to expose patients to unsafe medicines. Manufacturers support efforts to increase access to affordable medicines, but these pieces of legislation are a classic example of how good intentions can lead to negative outcomes that fail to contain health care costs.

• ±õ²ÔÌýMichigan, the 51³Ô¹ÏÍø came out in opposition to H.B. 5223 in December 2018, which threatens manufacturers’ intellectual property protections by requiring them in certain cases to submit a substantial amount of proprietary data, including costs associated with R&D, to the state Department of Health and Human Services, with no protections for the data submitted. Click  for more.
• ±õ²ÔÌýMinnesota, the 51³Ô¹ÏÍø came out in opposition to House File 1246 in March 2019, which would threaten intellectual property protections by requiring manufacturers to disclose highly-sensitive proprietary information, creating unnecessarily burdensome requirements that are contrary to the free and competitive market that has allowed biopharmaceuticals to develop new life-saving treatments. Click  for more.
• ±õ²ÔÌýOregon, the 51³Ô¹ÏÍø came out in opposition to a legislative proposal in January 2019 that would authorize the state to apply for federal approval to import prescription drugs from Canada, which does not have the same standards or long-established mechanisms in place to protect patients as the U.S. Click  for more.
• In Utah, the 51³Ô¹ÏÍø came out in opposition to H.B. 267 in March 2019, which would authorize the state to apply for federal approval to import prescription drugs from Canada. The bill could expose consumers to counterfeit and adulterated therapies because Canada does not make product safety guarantees to the U.S. Click  for more.

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The 51³Ô¹ÏÍø (51³Ô¹ÏÍø) is the largest manufacturing association in the United States, representing small and large manufacturers in every industrial sector and in all 50 states. Manufacturing employs more than 12 million men and women, contributes $2.25 trillion to the U.S. economy annually, has the largest economic impact of any major sector and accounts for more than three-quarters of private-sector research and development. The 51³Ô¹ÏÍø is the powerful voice of the manufacturing community and the leading advocate for a policy agenda that helps manufacturers compete in the global economy and create jobs across the United States. For more information about the Manufacturers or to follow us on Shopfloor, Twitter and Facebook, please visit www.nam.org.