What's happening in the states

BIO reviews the state of state legislation

With most 2026 state legislative sessions wrapped up, Patrick Plues, BIO SVP of State Government Affairs and Affiliate Relations, identifies trends that matter to biotech.

PDABs: Several states considered legislation regarding price-setting prescription drug affordability boards (PDABs) amid growing doubts about their effectiveness. “No new PDABs were passed this year,” says Plues. “These boards are expensive for states to implement, and to date, we have not seen them successfully bring down drug prices for patients.”

340B: Advocates pushed for legislative reform to the ballooning 340B program. Duplicate discounts, where a manufacturer provides an upfront discount to a hospital purchasing a drug and then pays a second discount to Medicaid, are illegal and can cost states money, but they are not sufficiently regulated, Plues explains.

Vaccine opponents are driving state proposals to supersede the federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP), which provides fair and swift recourse in rare cases of a reaction to a vaccine. BIO explains VICP is effective, and a single, federal system is best.

Good vaccine policy: “We just saw Pennsylvania become the first state to make immunization rates public for all of their school districts, and that’s something we think is a good idea,” says Plues.

PBMs: Some legislatures addressed poor transparency and market-distorting vertical integration among pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). BIO maintains comprehensive reforms addressing PBMs are best overseen through coordinated federal and state action.

Artificial intelligence: “There is great interest among state legislators to regulate AI, particularly given that we don’t have a federal law in place yet,” says Plues. BIO supports use of AI for drug discovery and backs laws regulating insurers’ use of AI in coverage and reimbursement decisions.

Read more on Bio.News.

Though vaccination rates drop, ‘vaccine support remains the norm’

Declining kindergarten vaccination rates amid rising preventable infections are a disconcerting sign of anti-vaccine sentiment and confusion about recommendations, but the overwhelming majority of Americans agree on the importance of vaccines.

The news: According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report, kindergarteners’ rates of routine vaccination dropped 0.1% in 2025, and exemptions to school vaccination requirements increased in 41 states and DC, with 24 states reporting exemptions exceeding 5%. This means more families decided to not vaccinate their children before starting school. Meanwhile, vaccine-preventable measles is at a 35-year high.

Yes, but: “While there are genuine warning signs of eroding trust and confidence that deserve acknowledgment, the weight of the evidence says vaccine support remains the norm,” writes public health expert David Higgins, MD.

Why it matters: Polls show most Americans from both parties favor routine vaccination. Vaccine supporters can influence their neighbors because those with concerns about vaccines trust local voices most, per experts at BIO 2026.

Having the talk: “We’ve all gone through a global trauma together,” says Phyllis Arthur, BIO EVP & Chief of Global Health, noting that mistrust of vaccination grew rapidly during the COVID pandemic. She urges “finding commonality” with community members when explaining why immunization matters.

BIO seeks to drive the conversation: “Immunization represents the right and the ability to defend and protect those we love,” explains BIO’s campaign, “Invest in America. Vaccinate.”

What Else to Read

CancerCare captures the human impact of utilization management (UM) for patients. CancerCare, a national non-profit to support cancer patients, recently launched the Micro Insights, Macro Impact project to help patients advocate against UM practices such as prior authorization and step therapy. “My insurance company asked me to try and fail one treatment before I can get the actual treatment that I needed, and I was devastated by that,” says Maria, a patient with stage 3b uterine cancer, in a video for the project. Read more on Bio.News.

BIO 2026: Generative genomics can help biotechs design better, not just faster. Generative genomics, an emerging field using AI to analyze genetic sequences, offers researchers the hope of efficiently assessing the world’s collected stores of DNA/RNA data to discover overlooked patterns that lead to new treatments. The possibilities of achieving faster results and improving the rate of success for clinical trials were discussed during a panel at the 2026 BIO International Convention. Read more on Bio.News.

Connecting more patients with psoriasis to the care they need. For people living with psoriatic disease, treatment innovation has advanced dramatically. Yet too many patients remain undiagnosed, untreated, or undertreated, the National Psoriasis Foundation (NPF) says. Read more on Bio.News.

Beltway Report

Congress is on summer recess. The House returns Aug. 31, and the Senate returns Sept. 14.