Election 2024: US Pharmaceutical Industry Eagerly Awaits Congressional Race

The upcoming 2024 US presidential election looms ahead, but it is less the presidential candidates who could determine the fate of the pharmaceutical industry. Instead, the balance of power in Congress takes center stage: the composition of the Senate and the House of Representatives could be decisive for the direction of health and pharmaceutical policy, as analysts Jim Davis, former Congressman, and Thomas Reynolds, former Congressional leader, emphasized at a conference of the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine in Phoenix. Current polls show a close race for the Senate, where a Republican majority seems likely. Nevertheless, the battle for all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 34 of the 100 Senate seats is exceptionally tight. Even the slightest shifts could significantly influence the political balance and thus the confirmation of key positions in important agencies like the FDA under the potentially new Senate. At the Phoenix conference, Davis and Reynolds stated that the current Democratic control in the Senate could likely shift to the Republicans, while Republicans already hold a narrow majority in the House of Representatives. Regardless of who enters the White House, experts anticipate a continuation of a more critical China policy, including the Biosecure Act, and the need for new tax regulations after the expiration of the Trump-era tax cuts. Interestingly, healthcare reform takes a backseat among campaign topics, while Trump focuses on economic and immigration policy, and Vice President Harris draws public attention to abortion and personal characteristics. Harris recently announced an expansion of Medicare to cover home care for the elderly, financed by negotiated drug discounts, while Trump’s criticism of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) offered no significant alternative concept. Among Republicans, there are also clear disagreements, as Reynolds concedes, between Trump's "America First" policy and more traditional approaches under Senate leadership by Mitch McConnell. Intraparty "chaos" and "turmoil" could be further fueled by the fragile majority in the House of Representatives, Reynolds argues, potentially hindering the party's agenda setting.