Support the EPIC Act!

Just as promises in treatment research have emerged, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) introduced drug price controls that undercut the development of innovative new drugs. Worse yet, these controls are especially harmful to the development of medicines for schizophrenia. The IRA’s “Pill Penalty” grants a longer period of exemption from price setting for biologics than it does for small molecules—the affordable, accessible pills that millions of patients rely on. Small-molecule medicines are crucial to the treatment of schizophrenia due to their unique ability to cross the blood-brain barrier and reach disease targets inside the brain.

People with schizophrenia often must try multiple medicines before they find one that works – and many patients never find one. Yet the IRA threatens the development of new medicines to treat this disease. The EPIC Act is a much-needed fix that will provide more options for people with schizophrenia and help ensure that everyone with schizophrenia has access to a treatment that works for them. The Schizophrenia Policy Action Network urges Congress to pass this critical legislation.