In August 2022, Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which includes prescription drug provisions that have significant implications for the pharmaceutical industry and Medicare beneficiaries, including allowing the federal government to negotiate a maximum fair price for certain high-priced single-source Medicare drugs, imposing penalties and excise tax for manufacturers that fail to comply with the drug price negotiation requirements, requiring inflation rebates for all Medicare Part B and Part D drugs, with limited exceptions, if their drug prices increase faster than inflation, and redesigning Medicare Part D to reduce out-of-pocket prescription drug costs for beneficiaries, among other changes. Various industry stakeholders, including pharmaceutical companies, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Infusion Center Association, the Global Colon Cancer Association, and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, have initiated lawsuits against the federal government asserting that the price negotiation provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act are unconstitutional. The impact of these judicial challenges, legislative, executive, and administrative actions and any future healthcare measures and agency rules implemented by the government on us and the pharmaceutical industry as a whole is unclear. The implementation of cost containment measures or other healthcare reforms may prevent us from being able to generate revenue, attain profitability, or commercialize our product candidates if approved.
All entries for: Oncology
AbCellera
Negative Outlook
Vancouver, BC
501-1,000 employees
Iovance Biotherapeutics
Negative Outlook
San Carlos, CA
501-1,000 employees
We continue to monitor the potential impact of proposals and recently enacted legislation to lower prescription drug costs at the federal and state level. As an example, of changes enacted by a new administration, the Inflation Reduction Act, or the IRA, was signed into law in August 2022 by President Biden, which makes significant changes to how drugs are covered and paid for under the Medicare program, including the creation of financial penalties for drugs whose prices rise faster than the rate of inflation, redesign of the Medicare Part D program to require manufacturers to bear more of the liability for certain drug benefits, and government price-setting for certain Medicare Part D drugs, starting in 2026, and Medicare Part B drugs starting in 2028. We continue to evaluate what effect, if any, the IRA may have on our business. Any reduction in reimbursement from Medicare or other government healthcare programs may result in a similar reduction in payments from private payors. The implementation of cost containment measures or other healthcare reforms may prevent us from being able to generate revenue, attain profitability or commercialize our products.
Zymeworks
Negative Outlook
Middletown, DE
201-500 employees
We expect to experience pricing pressures in connection with the sale of any products that we develop, due to the trend toward managed healthcare, the increasing influence of health maintenance organizations and additional legislative proposals. In August 2022, Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which includes prescription drug provisions that have significant implications for the pharmaceutical industry and Medicare beneficiaries, including allowing the federal government to negotiate a maximum fair price for certain high-priced single-source Medicare drugs, imposing penalties and excise tax for manufacturers that fail to comply with the drug price negotiation requirements, requiring inflation rebates for all Medicare Part B and Part D drugs, with limited exceptions, if their drug prices increase faster than inflation, and redesigning Medicare Part D to reduce out-of-pocket prescription drug costs for beneficiaries, among other changes. Only high-expenditure single-source drugs that have been approved for at least seven years (11 years for single-source biologics) can qualify for negotiation, with the negotiated price taking effect two years after the selection year. Various industry stakeholders have initiated lawsuits against the federal government asserting that the price negotiation provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act are unconstitutional. The impact of these judicial challenges, future challenges in view of the U.S. Supreme Court’s overruling of the Chevron doctrine, changes in the leadership of the federal agencies, legislative, executive, and administrative actions and any future healthcare measures and agency rules implemented by the government on us and the pharmaceutical industry as a whole is unclear. The implementation of cost containment measures or other healthcare reforms may prevent us from being able to generate revenue, attain profitability, or commercialize our product candidates if approved.
RAPT Therapeutics
Neutral Outlook
South San Francisco, CA
51-200 employees
There have been executive, judicial and Congressional challenges and amendments to certain aspects of the ACA. For example, in August 2022, the IRA was signed into law, which, among other things, extends enhanced subsidies for individuals purchasing health insurance coverage in ACA marketplaces through plan year 2025. The IRA also eliminates the “donut hole” under the Medicare Part D program beginning in 2025 by significantly lowering the beneficiary maximum out-of-pocket cost through a newly established manufacturer discount program. It is possible that the ACA will be subject to judicial or Congressional challenges in the future. It is unclear how any such challenges and healthcare reform measures will impact the ACA and our business.
Teva Pharmaceuticals
Layoffs
Tel Aviv, Israel
10,001-50,000 employees
Teva is laying off some 2,900 of its employees worldwide by 2027, corresponding to an approximately 8% reduction in force, company executives announced Wednesday during the company’s first-quarter 2025 earnings report, according to various media reports. According to a subsequent Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification notice and confirmed by a company spokesperson to BioSpace via email, 54 of the affected employees work in Salt Lake City.
Corvus Pharmaceuticals
Neutral Outlook
Burlingame, CA
51-200 employees
While the impact of the IRA on the pharmaceutical industry cannot yet be fully determined, it is likely to be significant.
Pliant Therapeutics
Negative Outlook
South San Francisco, CA
51-200 employees
The IRA explicitly excludes from price negotiation orphan drugs designated for only one rare disease or condition and for which the only active approved indication is for such disease or condition. Those drugs with multiple orphan designations are not excluded from drug price negotiation. As we are developing bexotegrast in multiple orphan indications and may seek obtain orphan drug designation for other product candidates, this aspect of the IRA could have a negative impact on our ability to rely on the orphan drug exclusion to the “maximum fair price”.
Beigene
Negative Outlook
Cambridge, MA
10,001-50,000 employees
For example, in August 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (the “IRA”) was signed into law. The IRA includes several provisions that may impact our business to varying degrees, including provisions that create a $2,000 out-of-pocket cap for Medicare Part D beneficiaries, impose new manufacturer financial liability on all drugs in Medicare Part D, allow the U.S. government to negotiate Medicare Part B and Part D pricing for certain high-cost drugs and biologics without generic or biosimilar competition, require companies to pay rebates to Medicare for drug prices that increase faster than inflation, and delay the rebate rule that would require pass through of pharmacy benefit manager rebates to beneficiaries. Any reduction in reimbursement from Medicare or other government programs may result in a similar reduction in payments from private payors. The implementation of cost containment measures or other healthcare reforms may prevent us from being able to generate revenue, attain profitability, or commercialize our medicines and drug candidates.
Schrödinger
Negative Outlook
New York, NY
501-1,000 employees
“We would be fully at risk of government action if our products or those of our partners are the subject of Medicare price negotiations. Moreover, given the risk that could be the case, these provisions of the IRA may also further heighten the risk that we would not be able to achieve the expected return on our drug products or full value of our patents protecting our products if prices are set after such products have been on the market for nine years.
Furthermore, these provisions of the IRA may cause some companies to shift their research portfolio and priorities more towards large molecules (i.e., biologics such as antibodies) rather than small molecules. Although we do have applications of our technology to biologics, we do not yet have the same validation or value for large molecule discovery as we do for small molecule discovery. Accordingly, if the IRA causes the pharmaceutical industry to pivot investment and portfolio strategy away from small molecule drug discovery and towards biologics, it could have a material adverse effect on the expected value of our drug discovery programs and also on the perceived value of using our software to develop product candidates. In addition, if investment levels and development interest in small molecule therapeutics decreased, it may become more difficult for us to enter into collaborations on commercially acceptable terms, or at all, for our proprietary drug discovery programs. If we are unable to find suitable collaborators and/or partners for our programs, we may be forced to fund and undertake development or commercialization activities on our own for more programs than we would otherwise expect to, or plan for, which could adversely affect our business and financial condition.”
Geron
Negative Outlook
Foster City, CA
51-200 employees
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 includes several provisions to lower prescription drug costs for people with Medicare and reduce drug spending by the federal government, which may ultimately have a negative effect on the pricing for RYTELO. However, the Medicare Drug Pricing Negotiation Program provisions of the law are currently subject to legal challenges. Further, no uniform policy requirement for coverage and reimbursement for drug products exists among third-party payors in the U.S. As a result, the coverage determination process is often a time-consuming and costly process that will require us to provide scientific and clinical support for the use of RYTELO to each payor separately, with no assurance that coverage and adequate reimbursement will be applied consistently or obtained in the first instance. Although we have received a permanent and product-specific J-Code (J0870) for RYTELO which became effective on January 1, 2025, there may also be significant delays in obtaining coverage and reimbursement for newly approved drugs, and coverage may be more limited than the purposes for which the drug is approved by the FDA or similar international regulatory authorities. Coverage and reimbursement may impact the demand for, or the price of RYTELO, and reimbursement policies in the U.S., the EU, and other jurisdictions may evolve which may adversely impact our ability to successfully commercialize RYTELO. Even if favorable coverage and reimbursement status is attained for one or more products for which we receive regulatory approval, less favorable coverage policies and reimbursement rates may be implemented in the future. If coverage and reimbursement are not available or reimbursement is available only to limited levels, we may not be able to successfully commercialize RYTELO, which would negatively impact our business and business prospects.