Mass. lawmaker Auchincloss favors boosting U.S. biotech over targeting China

Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.) has some advice for fellow lawmakers: unapologetically support the biotech industry, vilify insurance companies, and focus on making America a biotech research haven, instead of relying on protectionism. Right now in Washington, it’s popular to support protectionist policies against China in industries like tech. China is rapidly gaining on the U.S. biotechnology industry, and there is bipartisan support to extend those protections to the biotech sector. Auchincloss said that approach hurts America’s competitiveness. “Washington needs to fix itself and worry less about what China is doing because China is going to be excellent,” he said at the STAT Summit in Boston on Thursday. “But we can be even better.” That attitude aligns with the views of the biotech industry and its investors. America cannot stop China from becoming a biotech powerhouse, the thinking goes, so Congress should invest in the domestic biotechnology industry and speed research and development. Auchincloss plans to introduce a bill that would adopt the approach taken by the Australian government, which has sped up the clinical trial regime in part by allowing early-phase trials to bypass pre-approval evaluation by the national regulator. It will never be as cheap to conduct early-stage trials in the U.S. as it is in China, Auchincloss said, but it should be as fast. He said he’s also interested in cracking down on pharmacy benefit manager business practices, reforming the 340B hospital drug discount program, and creating small business grants. Although drugmakers have become a popular target of lawmakers, Massachusetts lawmakers should boldly promote the industry, which plays a crucial role in the state’s economy, Auchincloss said. “Some advice from a six-year veteran of Washington, D.C.: You do need a villain, and the villain is the insurance company,” he said during the conversation with STAT’s Chelsea Cirruzzo. Another villain, in his eyes: Russ Vought, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, who Auchincloss said considers science a “blue state subsidy.” The OMB proposed empowering the White House to override the recommendations of peer reviewers, terminate grants at will, and exercise more latitude in the type of research federal agencies support. Auchincloss also took issue with the Food and Drug Administration’s Commissioner’s National Priority Voucher program. Former FDA Commissioner Marty Makary created the program, and it has come under scrutiny from industry stakeholders and public health advocates. Auchincloss said it politicizes decisions that should be guided by transparent, well thought-out standards. For example, Makary awarded vouchers to psychedelics after podcaster Joe Rogan texted Trump about research around ibogaine. “If Washington behaves that way, there’s nothing that we’re going to do about Beijing that’s going to save our biomedical leadership,” Auchincloss said. “Because ultimately, what makes us great is high, clear, transparent standards paired with the world’s best talent getting funded to pursue curiosity-driven research.”