The Medicines for the People Act would add a new National Institute for Biomedical Research and Development inside the Public Health Service. The Institute’s job would be to do full-cycle research and development of drugs, devices, and biological products and to help make those products available at equitable and accessible prices. The Institute would run or fund laboratory research and clinical trials, buy research and technology, license patents, build or use facilities, share scientific data, and coordinate with other NIH components and federal agencies. The law says the Federal Government would own patents and trade secrets for products developed or funded by the Institute, and it sets rules for licensing those patents, including nonexclusive licenses and free licenses to public and nonprofit entities. The Institute would prioritize public health needs and use health technology assessments to judge value.
If enacted, this law would create a federal institute focused on developing medicines and medical products and on making information about that work public. The Institute could publish clinical trial data, post summaries and contracts online, and require researchers it funds to share data. For some products, the Institute could support public manufacturing and sell products at cost. When patents are held by the Institute, the bill requires licensing rules intended to allow public and nonprofit use and to set public-interest terms when licensing to for-profit companies.
The bill authorizes $90,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2027 to carry out the new Institute, to remain available until expended. The bill also says royalties from licenses should be reinvested into the Institute’s research and development. No other publicly available information about costs, savings, or budget offsets is included in the bill text.
The bill states the Institute’s purpose is to promote long-term access to medicines, foster innovation, ensure prioritization of public health needs, and make drugs and devices available at equitable and accessible prices. The bill also emphasizes transparency by requiring timely public sharing of preclinical and clinical data and making contracts and licensing agreements publicly available.
No publicly available information.