The Biden administration’s legacy is choking off tomorrow’s small-business breakthroughs before they leave the lab, writes Casey Mulligan.
"Tomas Philipson ably details how “Biden’s IRA Is Harming Cancer Patients” (op-ed, Dec. 1). Those who had a bit of economics training would have seen that coming. It doesn’t matter whether it’s rent control, groceries or healthcare—government-imposed price ceilings curtail investment in maintaining and improving the quality of consumer products. In the pharmaceutical industry, that means fewer new drugs to improve health and longevity, and fewer discoveries of how to use existing medicines better.
Small businesses drive innovation because they are less bureaucratic and have fewer worries about protecting existing products. They are the least able to survive a policy that shortens effective patent lives and caps prices as their discoveries approach the market. According to the 2023 Business Enterprise Research and Development survey, about 2,970 small firms are engaged in U.S. biotechnology research and development. Their business models depend on a handful of potential “home run” projects. When price caps truncate the payoff window, many of their projects never get financed or are abandoned.
The Biden administration’s legacy not only harms cancer patients; it’s choking off tomorrow’s small-business breakthroughs before they leave the lab.
Casey B. Mulligan
Washington
Mr. Mulligan is chief counsel for advocacy at the Small Business Administration."
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