Incubate Celebrates 9/13 Day 2025

September 13th -- or 9/13 Day -- is a reminder of the harmful provision in the Inflation Reduction Act commonly known as the pill penalty. Under the law, small-molecule drugs face government price controls after just 9 years, while biologics receive 13 years of exemption. This four-year disparity threatens to discourage investment in the kinds of breakthrough pills that patients rely on every day.

Incubate has been sounding the alarm. Earlier this year, we launched a seven-figure advertising campaign across the country urging Congress to pass the Ensuring Pathways to Innovative Cures (EPIC) Act, a bipartisan bill to end the pill penalty and give small molecules and biologics each 13 years of reprieve before Medicare price controls.

We've also amplified the voices of patients, biotech leaders, venture capitalists, and policymakers through our "Small Molecules, Big Voices" video series, available on Incubate's YouTube page. Their stories make clear what's at stake if small-molecule innovation is left behind.

Since the IRA was signed into law, Incubate's Life Science Investment Tracker has identified 28 discontinued drugs and 53 abandoned research programs -- a warning sign of the breakthroughs we stand to lose if the pill penalty remains in place.