President Trump Pledges to End the Pill Penalty

In a new executive order, President Trump called on HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to work with Congress to end the "pill penalty" -- a provision in Medicare's drug pricing program that discourages investment in small molecule drugs.

Ever since the Inflation Reduction Act was introduced, Incubate has worked to educate the public and policymakers alike about the detrimental impacts of the pill penalty on life sciences research and development.

An Incubate survey found 87% of investors are steering away from small molecule R&D because of the pill penalty. Since the IRA was enacted, at least 49 research programs and 24 drugs have been shelved.

We hope lawmakers will build on the executive order to fix the pill penalty by passing the bipartisan EPIC Act. To read our statement on President Trump's executive order, click here.