Sofia Sees Hope Signs On To The Orphan Drug Tax Credit Letter

Last week Sofia Sees Hope signed on to a letter to Congress urging it to keep in place the Orphan Drug Tax Credit, which allows drug manufacturers to claim a tax credit of 50 percent of the qualified costs of clinical research and drug testing of so-called orphan drugs. Orphan drugs are drugs for diseases, such as Leber congenital amaurosis, that affect 200,000 or fewer Americans.

More than 130 organizations support the tax credit.

The National Organization for Rare Disorders composed and sent the letter to U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, Chairman, and U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, Ranking Member, of the Senate Committee on Finance, and to U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady, Chairman, and U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, Ranking Member, of the House Committee on Ways & Means.

The letter characterized the Orphan Drug Tax Credit as one of the only tax credits that saves lives. In the decade before the Orphan Drug Act of 1983, researchers developed 10 medicines for rare diseases. Since 1983, more than 3,500 potential treatments have been designated as an orphan drug and more than 500 orphan therapies have been approved by the FDA, according to the letter.

To review the letter and its 139 signatories, click here.