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Biotech / Medical : Procept (PRCT): 50% rise on high volume. Why? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Douglas who wrote (400)	6/8/1999 8:20:00 AM
From: Douglas	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 455

Vaccine and Microbicide Tax Credit Legislation Introduced in Congress Last week Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D., San Francisco), Congressman Charles Rangel (D., Manhattan), and seven other cosponsors introduced an important bill to stimulate research and development of vaccines for HIV, malaria, tuberculosis, and any other infectious disease which kills over a million people each year. They have worked with industry to make a bill which companies can support and use. >From a summary of the bill by Congresswoman Pelosi: "I. Tax Credit "Provides a tax credit for qualified research and development costs associated with research on vaccines for malaria, tuberculosis, or HIV. Investments in vaccines for other infectious diseases (of a single etiology) that cause over 1 million deaths per year would also qualify. The credit would also apply to R&D costs for microbicides to prevent these diseases. "The tax credit equals 30% of total annual qualified R&D investments. This is a 'flat' credit on all qualifying expenditures in a given year. Like the Research and Experimentation Tax Credit (R&E Credit), this tax credit could be carried forward 15 years and backward three years. The credit would be 'transferable' so that a company could use the unclaimed tax credits of a company it acquires. Smaller companies could choose to waive the credit and pass it on to their equity investors who finance R&D on one of the priority vaccines. "'Qualified research' is the same as in the R&E Credit and includes wages, salaries, supplies, certain time-sharing costs for use of computers, and 75% of contract research performed by research organizations. Buildings, overhead, and fringe benefits are not qualified expenses. To be claimed under the credit, R&D costs must be incurred in the United States, except for human clinical trials abroad since trials of these vaccines will be required in many countries. "Developing a Plan for Access "Companies that use the credit and develop a licensed product would be obligated to establish a good-faith plan for the widest possible global access to the vaccine. Companies would not waive any rights to pricing, patent ownership, or proprietary information. "II. Vaccine Purchase Fund--Sense of Congress "Expresses the Sense of Congress that the President and federal agencies, including the Department of State, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of the Treasury, should work together in support of the creation and funding of multi-lateral international efforts, such as a vaccine purchase fund, to accelerate the introduction of priority vaccines into the poorest countries of the world. Further, the bill expresses the Sense of Congress that tiered or differential pricing for vaccines, providing lowered tiered prices for the poorest countries, is one of several valid strategies to accelerate the introduction of vaccines in developing countries." Comment This bill is modeled on the highly successful Research and Experimentation tax credit. But instead of applying only to increases in research spending, the Lifesaving Vaccine Technology Act of 1999 applies to all spending for qualified purposes. It essentially contributes 30% public funding to match 70% private funding for these projects. The market failure and need for incentives is shown by a 1998 survey by PhRMA (Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America) of new medicines being developed for infectious diseases. Of the 43 vaccine projects listed, none were for HIV, malaria, or tuberculosis--the three infectious diseases which cause the most deaths by far. This bill will probably face little opposition. But it will need attention, since most of the bills introduced in Congress do not become law. And the public does not fully realize the linkage between global and domestic threats of emerging and drug-resistant infectious diseases, in a world of increasing population, increasing travel, and increasing risk of biological warfare. For More Information The Lifesaving Vaccine Technology Act of 1999--the full text, and Congressional actions--is in Thomas, thomas.loc.gov, the Library of Congress Web site which tracks current Federal legislation; search for 'vaccine' (or for the bill number, 'H.R. 1274').