BIO Applauds Introduction of the PARTNER Act to Stimulate Investment in Innovation

Washington, D.C. (May 1, 2015) – Today, the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) applauds Rep. Pat Meehan (R-PA) for introducing the Partnerships to Advance Revolutionary Technology and Novel Entrepreneurial Research (PARTNER) Act (H.R. 2179). The bill is co-sponsored by Reps. Richard Neal (D-MA), Mike Kelly (R-PA), Ron Kind (D-WI) and John Larson (D-CT). The bill would support early-stage research by incentivizing investment in R&D-focused small businesses.

The PARTNER Act would allow companies to partner with their investors on a specific research project or pipeline. Only start-up and small companies dedicated to R&D would be eligible to use these R&D Partnership Structures, so investors would be incentivized to invest at an earlier stage when the capital is most needed.

The following can be attributed to Jim Greenwood, BIO’s President and CEO:

“We strongly support this legislation that has been designed to help drive private investment dollars to emerging biotech companies working on breakthrough treatments and cures for suffering patients.

“Conducting groundbreaking research is a decades-long, billion-dollar endeavor, and emerging companies desperately need early-stage investors with a long-term investment strategy. This bill would encourage capital formation to support early stage R&D.

“Pre-revenue companies often do not benefit from the existing innovation incentives in the tax code, but the PARTNER Act would support their research to ensure that small companies receive the funding necessary to serve patients that are waiting on breakthrough treatments and cures to address the most life-threatening and devastating diseases.

“We commend Reps. Meehan, Neal, Kelly, Kind, and Larson and look forward to working with the Congress to pass this critical legislation.”

For more information on BIO and the biotechnology industry organization, please visit www.bio.org.