Reps. Don Davis (D-N.C.) and Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.) said Thursday that the House is ready to pass a bill expanding access to genetically targeted technologies (GTTs) for conditions like heart disease, but acknowledged the main hurdle is getting the Senate to act.
Speaking at The Hill's event "Protecting Patients from America's No. 1 Killer," sponsored by the Partnership to Advance Cardiovascular Health, the lawmakers discussed their Maintaining Investments in New Innovation (MINI) Act. The bill would set a timeline for when GTTs become eligible for Medicare drug price negotiation under the Inflation Reduction Act.
The Alliance for Patient Access describes GTTs as treatments "generally delivered via injection" that require patients to visit a clinician once or twice a year, rather than taking daily medication at home. Davis highlighted the benefit for rural constituents in eastern North Carolina, saying, "At the end of the day, when you're able to get advanced medications out there, patients are going to benefit." He added, "They may not have to make as many visits. I mean, that's huge especially in rural American areas."
The MINI Act would require GTTs to have market approval for at least 11 years before Medicare can negotiate prices. Under current law, small-molecule drugs face negotiation after seven years, while biologics get 11 years. GTTs are similar to biologics but fall under different federal rules, creating a regulatory gap the bill aims to close.
Critics, as noted by The Hill's contributing editor Kathleen Koch, argue the measure could delay affordable access to these therapies. Tenney countered that the bill is designed to protect investment in innovation. "Right now, you're seeing an incredible explosion in innovation technology, a lot of it because of AI," she said. "We don't want to discourage people that are going to be investing. That's why we created the MINI Act just to say, let's give them a time period where they know their investment can actually give them a chance to take some time to make that work and to get a return."
When asked about Senate support, Tenney replied, "A little bit." She quipped that the bipartisan duo's "common enemy is the people in the Senate who — we get bills passed and then they get held up over there." The bill, she said, is "not on the front burner" in the upper chamber. "Our mission is to get it on the front burner, and that's why I'm looking at various bills that are very meritorious, noncontroversial, bipartisan and getting them out."
The push comes amid broader debates over healthcare costs and innovation. The Cleveland Clinic recently clarified RFK Jr.'s role in a robotic heart surgery visit, underscoring the political attention on cardiac care. Meanwhile, the CDC has halted key disease testing amid agency restructuring, raising questions about federal health priorities.
With the House poised to act, the fate of the MINI Act now rests on whether Senate leaders will prioritize a bill that both parties say should be noncontroversial.
