Want to Expedite a COVID-19 Cure? Cut Red Tape and Increase Liability Protections

Over the last two centuries, American innovation, dedication, and ingenuity have always allowed the United States to overcome even the worst of crises. Vaccines for polio and the flu have saved countless lives, while other medications and devices have expanded life U.S. expectancies tremendously. Given the current pandemic, however, how can lawmakers expedite the process?

There is an ongoing global effort to find a vaccine before a severe global depression takes hold. Many private companies, both large and small, are spending significant sums on research and development to help explore COVID-19 treatment. 

Many have called for more federal funding to amplify these private companies’ efforts. Successful legislative efforts in the past, like the 21st Century Cures Act, created offsets in other spending areas to give the National Institute of Health (NIH) more funding for biomedical research.

During this pandemic, Congress should explore similar legislative remedies to re-shuffle the government’s funding and prioritize finding a cure for COVID-19 as soon as possible – but not before it addresses the countless anti-free market obstacles that limit R&D funding in the first place. 

There are multiple financial speedbumps that organizations must pass over before their money goes towards vaccine development. Administrative, regulatory compliance, and liability protection expenses all add up in ways that stop much of these entities’ research funding from going towards actual cure creation. 

Some action has already been taken on the regulatory front, with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently announcing the Coronavirus Treatment Acceleration Program (CTAP). This program is designed to support clinical trials for possible vaccines for COVID-19 while reducing some of the more time-consuming regulations that would generally delay new drug testing. 

Steps like CTAP show the benefits of removing burdensome pressures has on the development process. Already, the nation has seen ten different agents enter the trial phase, with 15 more on the way. Removing more barriers will only get us a cure faster and more efficiently. 

To prioritize treatment over bureaucracy even further, next on Washington, D.C.’s reform list should be affording more liability protection in this time of crisis.

Currently, there is a multitude of procedures and regulations that vaccine developers follow during the creation and testing phases to lower their risk of subjection to litigation. However, even when developers get everything right, they can face decades-long lawsuits whenever an attorney thinks he or she can get a payout, like those seen against the MMR vaccine. 

It’s already becoming apparent that the trial bar sees the coronavirus as their next gold rush. Law firms are setting up practices designed solely to bring lawsuits in this environment, especially in the healthcare industry. We have already seen some filed against the makers of hand sanitizers and pharmaceutical companies, and this is just the tip of the iceberg.   Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE) is working with some of her colleagues, including medical doctors Rand Paul (R-KY) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Judiciary Committee members Ben Sasse (R-NE) and Josh Hawley (R-MO), to limit barriers on the healthcare industry’s coronavirus response. Her bill, the Health Care Workforce Protection Act of 2020 (S. 3372), will extent limited liability protections to help make treating the coronavirus all the more easier. After signing on in support of S.3372, Sen. Paul said that, “As a physician, I am proud to support legislation that encourages an increased supply of respirators to protect more Americans and aid our medical professionals in fighting the coronavirus.”

Indeed, and hopefully more of his free-market allies in the Senate will soon get on board, while the legislation inspires more action to protect Americans against the trial lawyers’ harmful litigation attempts against innovators, caretakers, and care centers like hospitals and nursing homes -- all of which take funding away from treating this deadly disease.

With increased testing capability has come better, far from complete, containment data. The testing front has made significant progress towards a cure, but the nation will never return to normal without a vaccine. That’s why it’s so critical for Congress to expedite the innovation process by waiving unnecessary regulations and giving our medical industry protection from burdensome lawsuits. These changes won't create a cure overnight, but they will put more companies’ hard-earned money into R&D and make the prospects of a quick end to this pandemic better than ever before.

Dan Perrin is the president of the HSA Coalition and co-author of America's Health Care Crisis Solved: Money-Saving Solutions, Coverage for Everyone