U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) recently introduced a bicameral, bipartisan bill aimed at strengthening domestic biopharmaceutical manufacturing.
The Biomanufacturing Excellence Act would promote U.S. leadership in biotechnology, lawmakers said. Companion legislation was also introduced in the U.S. Senate.
“Southeastern Pennsylvania has a storied history as a global leader in the life sciences,” Houlahan said. “Yet too many of our breakthroughs struggle to reach patients and markets because we lack the biomanufacturing capacity to scale and commercialize them. That gap threatens jobs, our regional competitiveness, and our access to medicines, applications, solutions and treatments Americans and our nation need. Our bipartisan Biomanufacturing Excellence Act tackles this head-on by creating a national Center of Excellence to drive innovation in biopharmaceutical manufacturing. The bill would cut costs, speed production, and grow our biotech workforce here in our Commonwealth. As competitors like the Chinese Communist Party race to dominate this space, we cannot afford to fall behind.”
The legislation will reinvest in domestic biopharmaceutical manufacturing, while reducing the country’s dependence on foreign supply chains and expanding access to cutting-edge medicines, law makers said. Specifically, the legislation will establish a public-private center dedicated to advancing biopharmaceutical manufacturing, the National Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing Center of Excellence.
The bill is endorsed by Life Sciences Pennsylvania, as well as other national and state science-based organizations.
“Pennsylvania’s collaborative life sciences ecosystem has made our commonwealth a national leader in biopharmaceutical manufacturing for decades. We recognize the importance of the bipartisan and bicameral Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing Center of Excellence Act. This legislation will help incentivize and protect national security as well as ensure a steadfast supply chain in delivering treatments and therapeutics in Pennsylvania, across the Country, and around the world,” Christopher P. Molineaux, president and CEO of Life Sciences PA, said.