Congress delays Medicare's power to negotiate biologic drug prices
S. 832 — EPIC Act of 2025 · Filed by Thom Tillis (R-NC) · 7 cosponsors · Introduced Mar 4, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill extends the negotiation period for biologic drugs under Medicare's Drug Price Negotiation Program from 7 years to 11 years for drugs entering the program in 2028 and beyond, while keeping the 7-year period for 2026–2027. It aligns biologic negotiation timelines with small-molecule drugs, which already have longer exclusivity periods under patent law.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is a straightforward extension of the negotiation-delay period for biologic drugs. It does not hide its function, but the framing as 'equalizing' periods obscures that it favors manufacturers over payers and patients.
What the text implies
- The bill frames the change as 'equalizing' small-molecule and biologic timelines, but small-molecule drugs already have 11+ years of patent protection under the Hatch-Waxman Act; this bill does not equalize — it extends biologic exclusivity beyond what small-molecule drugs receive in practice.
- By delaying negotiation to 2028+, the bill grandfathers in 2026–2027 biologics at the 7-year threshold, creating a two-tier system that may incentivize accelerated approvals and market entry before the 11-year rule takes effect.
- The extension increases Medicare spending on biologics without corresponding innovation incentives, as the underlying patent/exclusivity framework already protects manufacturers; the extra 4 years is pure price-protection with no public-health offset.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill delays Medicare's negotiating power over biologic drugs, extending the period during which manufacturers face no price competition from the government program. Patients and taxpayers will pay higher prices for biologics during the extended exclusivity window, offsetting any innovation incentive by shifting costs to the public.
Who stands to gain
- biopharmaceutical manufacturers
- large-cap biotech companies
Named in the bill
Social Security Act, Drug Price Negotiation Program, Medicare, biologic drug manufacturers, small-molecule drug manufacturers
Where it stands
7 cosponsors: 7 Republicans.
- Mar 4, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Mar 4, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Finance · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
35 lobbying clients named this bill on 48 disclosure filings across 3 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $37,410,827 in lobbying spend. A filing names 8 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 98% of bills with at least one filing.
Thom Tillis, the sponsor, reported $973,475 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle. $500 of that came from 1 PAC tied to these lobbying clients.
- Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America — $15,770,000 on 2 filings
- AARP — $5,300,000 on 1 filing
- Biogen — $1,830,000 on 2 filings
- Bayer Corporation (consolidated Report) — $1,820,000 on 1 filing
- Johnson & Johnson Services Inc — $1,440,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (650 characters) on Aug 21, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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