Q1 Newsletter 2025

Please visit the Advocacy Action Center to weigh in with your state and federal representatives, on the importance of the Governor’s investments in the life sciences and innovation and proposals to alter NIH funding, respectively.

Swearing-in Day – Federal

January 3, 2025

Life Sciences PA joined members of its Federal Policy Committee in the halls of Congress for Swearing-In Day for the 119^th Congress. New members of the Pennsylvania Congressional Delegation include Representatives Rob Bresnahan(PA-08), Ryan Mackenzie (PA-07) and US Senator Dave McCormick (R-PA), who were sworn-in Friday, January 3, 2025. LSPA also visited returning US Representatives and met with legislative staff to share policy priorities including the importance supporting R&D, investing in in innovation, and ensuring patient access to novel medications, therapeutics, and devices. Each Congress brings a fresh opportunity for introduction of legislation that was unsuccessful in the previous Congress, while developing existing relationships and cultivating new champions for this ecosystem. As the year gets underway, we are particularly focused on the necessary reauthorization of the Pediatric Priority Review Voucher program, SBIR reauthorization, bolstering NIH funding, ensuring a well-resourced FDA, and gearing up for User Fee Agreements under the new administration.

ORPHAN Cures Act Introduction (H.R. 946)

FEBRUARY 4, 2025

Life Sciences PA acknowledged Rare Disease Day on February 28^th by applauding the ORPHAN Cures Act Introduction – “Over 30 million Americans are affected by nearly 10,000 rare diseases – yet 95% of these rare diseases lack an FDA-approved treatment. We need to be doing more – not less – to bring new FDA-approved treatments to market for rare disease patients,” said Congressman John Joyce, M.D. The ORPHAN Cures Act ensures that proven, critical R&D incentives are in place so the millions of Americans with rare diseases can continue to have hope for the future. “Life Sciences Pennsylvania applauds Congressman Joyce on the introduction of the ORPHAN CURES Act in the 119th Congress,” said Christopher P. Molineaux, President and CEO of Life Sciences Pennsylvania. “Dr. Joyce understands that the process of taking a rare disease medicine from research through development and approval for patients has many unique challenges. With small patient populations, the development of medicines for rare diseases is significantly more difficult, costly, and risky than typical drug research and development. The ORPHAN CURES Act creates hope for the millions of patients living with a rare disease.”

AdvaMed Fly-In

FEBRUARY 25-26, 2025

As members of the State Medtech Alliance (SMTA), LSPA works closely with national partner AdvaMed to advance policy in the medical device industry, specifically regulatory reform and addressing tax policies. This year, the focus was on tariffs and potential disruption to the global supply chain in the medtech community. In meetings with Pennsylvania delegation members and their Senior Staff members, Life Sciences PA discussed the importance of the FDA as the gold standard in safety and efficacy as well as maintaining a robust NIH. Life Sciences PA will continue to work with federal legislators to advocate for policies that incentive medical device innovation, and patient access to novel technologies.

Tri-State Reception

March 20, 2025

Developing relationships with the Pennsylvania congressional delegation and their staff is critical to ensure an understanding of the Commonwealth’s life sciences ecosystem, and what it means for patients and the state’s economy. Life Sciences PA was honored to partner with the Healthcare Institute of New Jersey (HINJ) and Delaware BIO to host the annual Congressional Staff Reception in the Rayburn House office building on March 20, 2025. This informal reception coincides with the kick-off of the NCAA college basketball tournament and is an important way to meet new legislators and staff in the tri-state area, and educate them on the region’s unique life sciences community.

Advocacy Day & Reception

March 24 & 25, 2025

To maintain a public policy climate conducive to sustaining and growing Pennsylvania’s life sciences ecosystem legislators and administration officials must hear directly from Life Sciences Pennsylvania member organizations. Every year, Life Sciences PA hosts its Advocacy Day at the Capitol building in Harrisburg. LSPA was pleased to host its annual Advocacy Day March 25.

Public officials hear regularly from LSPA staff and lobbyists. This event provides member organizations researching and developing novel medicines and technologies, as well as the entities supporting those efforts, a chance to speak directly to their representatives in state government. As legislators are bombarded with groups interested in many different topics (e.g. education, infrastructure, public safety), this event helps ensure legislators understand this unique ecosystem and the policy interest of our member organizations.

This year, Advocacy Day included nearly 70 member organizations participating in 61 total legislative meetings throughout the Capitol. In addition to those meetings, attendees also heard directly from the House Majority Leader Matt Bradford. For those members who were able to make the trip to Harrisburg Monday afternoon, March 24, Life Sciences Pennsylvania hosted a reception in the Senate Fountain Area of the Capitol building that included more than 20 legislators and staff.

Swearing-In and New Session of the General Assembly

January 2025

After the elections of 2024, Harrisburg welcomed new legislators and row officers to the Capitol in January. Majority control in each chamber remains the same with Democrats controlling the House by one seat: 102-101.  Republicans in the Senate gained one seat for a 28-22 majority, though that margin will shrink after a March 25 special election flipped one Senate seat. The margin will now be 27-23.

There are a total of 15 new legislators in the House and Senate in 2025. In addition to the new legislators, three row officers were sworn-in to their respective offices in January. Treasurer Stacy Garrity and Auditor General Tim DeFoor were each sworn into their second, four-year term. Pennsylvania elected a new Attorney General in November, 2024, and Dave Sunday was sworn into his first four-year term.

Finally, with the new year comes the start of the 2025-26 session of the Pennsylvania General Assembly. Legislation from the previous session that was not passed must all be re-introduced as the legislative process begins anew.

Governor Shapiro Visits Adare Pharma Solutions

January 10, 2025

Life Sciences PA was honored to attend Governor Shapiro’s visit to Adare Pharma Solutions. The tour and press conference, held January 10, were an acknowledgement of Adare’s decision to move its headquarters from New Jersey to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This decision recognizes Pennsylvania’s robust life sciences ecosystem and the Governor’s efforts to incentivize investment in it.

Governor Shapiro’s Budget Address

FEBRUARY 4, 2025

Governor Shapiro presented his proposed budget for 2025-2026 February 4 before a joint meeting of the State House and Senate. The plan calls for $51.5 billion in spending by the state government, which represents a 7.45 percent increase over last year’s budget. This proposal is the third by Governor Shapiro since taking office, and the full transcript of the Governor’s budget address can be found HERE. 

Life Sciences PA was honored to be in attendance for this year’s address, and are thankful for the Governor’s recognition of the life sciences as one of the key drivers in Pennsylvania’s innovation economy. LSPA is pleased to see Governor Shapiro’s plans to invest in Pennsylvania’s life sciences and innovation industry. Specifically, the Governor’s budget includes $65 million for innovation. Most relevant to our members is:

• A one-time $30 million initiative to spur life sciences job growth and innovation, through coordination among research universities to assist businesses in bringing cutting edge technology to market and fulfilling critical testing needs
• An annual $20 million to support large-scale innovation, match federal awards to mitigate risks for start-ups, and leverage Pennsylvania’s best-in-class research and development assets

In addition to those initiatives, the Governor also proposed other items relevant to our member organizations including:

• Expediting the reduction of the Corporate Net Income Tax (CNIT) to 4.99 percent by 2029
• Reorganizing Pennsylvania’s efforts to market and attract companies through Business PA, including $10 million for a new “Advance PA” tax credit
• $5 million for neuro degenerative disease research grants

Additionally, and in alignment with our state policy priorities, Pennsylvania’s three Life Sciences Greenhouses are funded at their annual level of $1 million each, for $3 million total, and the Research & Development and Keystone Innovation Zone Tax Credits are each fully funded. Funding for the Ben Franklin Technology Partners is maintained at $17 million.

It’s important to remember this budget address is the first step in Pennsylvania’s annual budgeting process. The Senate and House appropriations committees held hearings on the budget in the succeeding month, during which time Life Sciences PA weighed in with the appropriate legislators to ensure they understood the importance of investing in the Commonwealth’s life sciences ecosystem. The state budget is supposed to be finalized by June 30.

Roundtable with Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato

January 28, 2025

Tuesday, January 28 Life Sciences Pennsylvania hosted a gathering of life sciences leaders at Smith + Nephew for a roundtable discussion with Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato. County Executive Innamorato has held roundtables with different economic sectors to learn more about how she and her office can partnership with those sectors to advance economic development in the County.

 This discussion provided the County Executive with an understanding of the County’s (and state’s) life sciences ecosystem and the unique challenges and opportunities it presents for both patients and the region’s economy. At the conclusion of the discussion, Smith + Nephew gave County Executive Innamorato a short tour and overview of their robotics research center.