Washington, D.C. — March 5, 2025 — Commitment to Seniors, a project of American Commitment, applauds Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC), Ted Budd (R-NC), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), James Lankford (R-OK), and Steve Daines (R-MT) for introducing the Ensuring Pathways to Innovative Cures (EPIC) Act in the Senate. The EPIC Act eliminates the Biden “pill penalty,” which has led to American innovators pulling critically needed private sector investments in new cutting-edge therapies and cures for chronic diseases.
A new national poll by McLaughlin & Associates highlights the urgency of this issue:
- 87% of senior voters are concerned that the IRA’s “pill penalty” will make small molecule medicines harder to get, and increase reliance on treatments that are more expensive, more difficult to administer, and less effective.
- 82% of senior voters support the EPIC Act to fix the IRA’s “pill penalty” by granting small molecule medicines in pill and tablet form the same 13-year price control exemption that other medicines receive.
“Thank you, Senators Tillis, Budd, Blackburn, Lankford, and Daines, for introducing this crucial legislation to eliminate the Biden pill penalty,” said Phil Kerpen, President of American Commitment. “The Biden pill penalty has created a massive disincentive to develop easy-to-take pills. The so-called Inflation Reduction Act and its price controls have undermined the race for new cures, putting access to cancer drugs at risk. At an absolute minimum, Congress should include the EPIC Act in reconciliation to eliminate the Biden pill penalty and protect private sector investment in new cures.”