SB 1010 is flawed legislation that prioritizes red tape and bureaucracy over biomedical research and innovation, does nothing to protect access and affordability
SACRAMENTO – Patients and the life sciences community have partnered to protect access to new medicines and oppose SB 1010. The bill, by Sen. Ed Hernandez, prioritizes paperwork and bureaucracy over research, and instead of improving patient access and affordability, places patients in California at the end of the line. By establishing requirements in conflict with federal laws and rules, SB 1010 could prevent patients suffering debilitating or deadly diseases from receiving life-saving medicines, all while burdening our healthcare system with new layers of red tape.
Opposition to SB 1010, led by the California Life Sciences Association (CLSA), a non-profit representing over 750 of California’s leading life sciences innovators, will launch an effort, including a digital campaign, which can be found at SB1010www.protectaccessandinnovation.org, to ensure Sacramento lawmakers understand the consequences of misleadingly characterized “transparency” legislation.
“When you receive a terminal diagnosis, you will do anything to access new medicines that offer hope,” said Kristin Todd, a nurse practitioner at the UC Davis Medical Center who is battling breast cancer. “We should be making it easier for patients to receive treatment, instead of creating new roadblocks and red tape affecting people who are already fighting for their lives. We should not put politics ahead of the needs of patients.”
SB1010 will create jobs for lawyers, accountants and paper-pushers instead of researchers and scientists, establish barriers preventing timely access to new miracle medicines for California patients and do nothing to improve affordability.
“Rising healthcare costs are a concern to all of us, and medical innovation is a key part of the solution,” said Sara Radcliffe, CLSA President & CEO. “By helping prevent long-term hospital stays and other expensive procedures, new medicines save lives, control costs and ensure patients are getting the best possible medical care. SB 1010 is a step in the wrong direction, because it prioritizes red tape, paperwork and bureaucracy over research and development.”
Radcliffe added, “SB 1010 does nothing to protect or improve patient access to care and affordability. Instead, it threatens to put California patients at end of line. We urge all Sacramento decision makers to stand with patients in encouraging medical progress, and continuing to support research and innovation. On behalf of California’s life sciences innovators, a sector with 2,848 life sciences companies employing nearly 300,000 people all across the state, California Life Sciences Association (CLSA) opposes SB 1010.”
