Sen. Cruz Introduces Bill to Stop the Biden Administration’s Rationing of Monoclonal Antibody Treatments

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) this week introduced a bill to stop the federal takeover of monoclonal antibody treatment distribution and empower states to determine their own needs. Since September of last year, the Biden administration has taken complete control of the supply and distribution of monoclonal antibody treatments, which has resulted in rationing and shortages. Upon introducing the bill, Senator Cruz stated:

"One of the things we've learned during this pandemic is that monoclonal antibodies can have a very effective therapeutic effect in combatting Covid-19 infections. And in fact, we've seen them reduce hospitalization and death by 70%. The Biden administration responded to these encouraging results by rationing and limiting the ability of people to access monoclonal antibodies and stopping states like my home state of Texas from ordering the treatments directly. This federal takeover is an abuse of power that denies people lifesaving medication. That's why I'm proud to introduce this bill to return power to the states so each state can determine how many monoclonal antibody treatments it needs.

Background:

On September 3, 2021, the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) announced an update to the distribution of Monoclonal Antibody (mAb) therapeutic treatments for COVID-19.

ASPR cited the increase in demand for mAbs across the country due to the surge of the Delta variant of COVID-19. On September 13, 2021, HHS/ASPR announced that the agency was taking complete control of the supply of certain mAbs, and it would do weekly distributions for all states and territories. Previously, states, administration/infusion sites, hospitals, healthcare centers, and healthcare providers were able to directly order mAbs from the distributor, AmerisourceBergen with no limit on the amount of mAb units that could be ordered.

Senator Cruz's bill would prohibit the federal government from rationing, limit access to, restricting, or otherwise controlling the quantity of drugs made available to or distributed to states. This would apply to those drugs under emergency use authorization.

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