Good Day BIO: 340B and GM corn

We have more on the problems with the 340B program and the growing calls for the U.S. to take action on Mexico's GM corn ban. Plus, work continues on the Continuing Resolution before government funding expires on Friday evening. (671 words, 3 minutes, 21 seconds)

And don't forget to listen to the latest I am BIO podcast exploring society's impending data storage problem and how DNA is being used to fix it. Listen now on Apple, Google, and Spotify.

A closer look at the 340B program

The New York Times published a heartbreaking long-read titled, “How a Hospital Chain Used a Poor Neighborhood to Turn Huge Profits”—an example of how the unchecked 340B prescription drug program allows hospitals to profit at the expense of patients.

The federal 340B drug program was intended to allow “hospitals and clinics that work with underserved communities to provide outpatient prescription drugs to patients at deep discounts,” charging insurers higher prices for the drugs, as Bio.News explained last week.

In practice: The program “allows clinics in impoverished neighborhoods to buy prescription drugs at steep discounts, charge insurers full price, and pocket the difference,” explains The New York Times.

Case in point: What the Times calls a “hollowed-out hospital” in Richmond, Virginia, with “little more than a strapped emergency room and a psychiatric ward…has the highest profit margins of any hospital in Virginia, generating as much as $100 million a year, according to the hospital’s financial data.”

“The theory behind the law was that nonprofit hospitals would invest the savings in their communities,” continues the Times. However, hospitals did not have to disclose profits and were not required to use that revenue to help patients.

Now, the 340B program continues to “balloon” unchecked,Bio.News reported last week. State legislatures have introduced 44 340B-related bills in 24 states this year, many of which are contrary to “the spirit and original intent of the federal 340B law, to provide discounted drugs to disadvantaged patients,” as BIO wrote. 

Read more about 340B in Bio.News.

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Farmers, biotechs call on U.S. to challenge Mexico’s GM corn ban

Calls are growing louder for the U.S. government to take action on Mexico’s impending ban on genetically modified corn, reports Reuters.

Catch up: Mexico is set to ban genetically modified corn by 2024—an anti-science decision that would harm both U.S. farmers and Mexican consumers, as Mexico imports around 17 million tons of U.S. corn per year, according to Reuters. 

More Reading: Mexico’s GM corn ban a lose-lose scenario, study confirms

There have been questions about whether Mexico would accept imports for animal feed—but as Reuters reported, Mexican President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador said, “We do not accept GMO corn.”

Many are calling for the U.S. to take action—including farmers in the U.S., as well as BIO, which told Reuters it would support “enforcement action” if talks don’t work.  

What could happen next? A dispute settlement under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) is a possibility. Several trade and agriculture officials and nominees—most recently USDA trade nominee Alexis Taylor—have said they plan to engage with colleagues in the U.S. and Mexico on this issue.

The context: The White House will hold the Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health tomorrow—but we know that we can’t address the climate and supply chain impacts on our food supply without biotech.  

President Biden’s Tuesday: Delivering remarks on lowering health care costs at 1:15 PM from the Rose Garden. Meanwhile, POLITICO looks at the White House’s new plan to address nutrition and hunger ahead of the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health happening tomorrow.

What’s Happening on Capitol Hill: Work continues on the Continuing Resolution to fund the government before funding expires on Friday evening. A House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing will look at harm to patients from abortion restrictions, while the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis will look at the climate investments in the Inflation Reduction Act—read more about them on Bio.News.