TPA Slams Onerous Investment Restrictions on Biopharmaceuticals

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Kara Zupkus (224) 456-0257

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Treasury Department announced new rules implementing the Comprehensive Outbound Investment National Security (COINS) Act. The rules will increase restrictions on cross-border biotechnology deals and licensing agreements between U.S. biopharma companies and partners in China. Expanding upon broader federal outbound investment controls, the newly proposed rules seek to restrict cross-border cross-licensing and collaborative R&D transactions in biotechnology, citing national security considerations.

Ross Marchand, Executive Director of TPA, offered the following comment:

“This heavy-handed push by the Treasury Department directly undermines biopharmaceutical innovation to the detriment of millions of patients. By arbitrarily restricting foreign investment and cross-border licensing agreements, the administration is stifling critical capital and making it more difficult to bring game changing therapies to market. Restricting American biopharma companies from accessing global partnerships and co-development capital does not bolster national security—it simply starves America’s most innovative startups and laboratories of the resources needed to pioneer the next generation of medical breakthroughs.

“Government intervention has a terrible track record of improving healthcare access. European countries, which rely heavily on investment and price controls in their healthcare systems, have learned this lesson the hard way. Hospital pharmacists in Europe have reported critical medicine shortages. Everything from antimicrobial agents to oncology medications to anesthetic agents is now harder to get because of onerous government policies. The U.S. should be promoting investment instead of following these failed policies.

“Patients will pay for these policies through fewer choices and higher prices. Congress and the Treasury Department should reject these policies and pursue a light-touch approach.”

###

The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to educating the public through the research, analysis, and dissemination of information on the government’s impact on the economy.