Weekly Policy Update: Advocacy Around Drug Transparency Issues, an Opportunity To Be Heard By the Next Governor, and the Omnibus Spending Bill

This week CBSA testified in opposition to House Bill 1009, Diabetes Drug Pricing Transparency Act 2018. The bill was heard in the House Health, Insurance and Environment Committee and passed on a party line vote. It will now move to House Appropriations.

We continue to advocate in opposition and tell our story to legislators that we are dedicated to patients and ensuring people live longer, healthier lives. While we commended Representative Roberts for introducing amendments to look at the system holistically we still have concerns that the bill forces drug manufacturers to disclose proprietary and competitively sensitive business information, requires non-profits that advocate on behalf of patients or fund medical research to disclose contributions received from a manufacturer. We believe these requirements could be detrimental to research activities, and the bill is not reflective of total investment that goes into determining costs associated with the full R&D process.

To learn more about CBSA’s position to oppose please review our HB18-1009 fact sheet and testimony.


CBSA also continues to advocate against House Bill 1260, Prescription Drug Price Transparency, As an industry we recognize the need to address transparency, which is why we support true transparency. We continue to wait for its hearing in House Appropriations Committee. CBSA and our industry partners are working persistently to ensure our voice is heard at the Capitol. Read our recap of the hearing on the bill and CBSA’s testimony.

We need your help to oppose this legislation. Please use this form to contact your legislator and ask for a NO vote.

What if Colorado schools were #1?

The Colorado BioScience Association is partnering with Colorado Succeeds and other Colorado business leaders on a business guide for Colorado’s next governor. The business guide looks at “What if Colorado’s Schools were #1?”

INFORM OUR EFFORTS: You are invited to partake in a brief survey regarding the skills gap that your company may face in Colorado. This anonymous survey should take less than seven minutes. Results will be shared with all 2018 gubernatorial candidates explaining how employers view the skills gap and what strategies are needed to improve Colorado’s schools.

Please click here to take this brief survey.

This week in Washington, D.C. the Senate and House voted on the $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill to keep the federal government open for the rest of the fiscal year. It was signed by the President today. We were pleased to see the bill included a $3 billion increase to NIH funding. The additional details related to our industry are listed below. To learn more about bill and what it does click here.

NIH Funding

  • The bill boosts vital funding for the National Institutes of Health, providing $37 billion for NIH, a $3 billion increase over FY17 to fund additional research and development of cures for major diseases.

Opioids

  • The omnibus would increase funding to tackle the nation’s opioid epidemic. It gives more than $4 billion across agencies to help state and local governments tackle the issue. The opioid crisis has long been considered a bipartisan issue in Congress.

Funding Critical Mental Health Programs:

  • The bill appropriates more than $2.3 billion in new funding billion for mental health programs and other training.
  • Nearly 30 sections of mental health provisions within the landmark 21st Century Cures Act will receive funding, including the Mental Health Block Grant seeing a $160 million increase. Other items include: the National Traumatic Stress Network, the National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative, Mental and Behavioral Health Training Grants, Assisted Outpatient Treatment, and the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
Categories: CBSA News