Medicines for the People Act
Sponsored By: Representative Tlaib
Introduced
Summary
Creates a federally owned biomedical R&D institute that would develop drugs, devices, and biological products and prioritize public health needs and affordable access. It would push transparency, federal ownership of inventions, and options for public manufacturing or public-interest licensing.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
5 provisions identified: 3 benefits, 0 costs, 2 mixed.
Create a public biomedical institute
This bill would create the National Institute for Biomedical Research and Development. The Institute would run and fund full-cycle R&D to move drugs, devices, and biologics toward FDA approval. The Director would be able to use NIH labs, run clinical trials, contract for work, acquire scientific data and patents, and build facilities as needed.
Big federal funding for drug R&D
This bill would authorize $90 billion for the new Institute for fiscal year 2027. The funds would remain available until expended. This authorization would not itself spend money; later appropriations would determine outlays.
Government ownership and public manufacturing
This bill would make the Federal Government own patents and key manufacturing data for products developed or funded by the Institute. When the government holds a patent, the Director would provide public manufacturing if practicable, and publicly made products would be sold at cost. If public manufacture is not practicable, licenses to private makers would be non‑exclusive and tied to value from health technology assessments, with preference for nonprofit manufacturers and reinvestment of royalties into Institute R&D.
Open data, HTA rules, and public reports
This bill would require wide public sharing of preclinical and clinical data and cost information for Institute-funded work, with deidentification for privacy. Funded researchers would share data by the earlier of first publication or award end and must deposit final peer-reviewed manuscripts to PubMed Central within one year. The Institute would run formal, transparent health technology assessments that consider effectiveness, safety, costs, ethics, and patient impacts. The Director would evaluate Institute activities not later than five years after enactment and then annually, and publish reports with metrics and licensing details.
Board rules and ethics for the Institute
This bill would require the Secretary to set up a 15-member governing Board within 180 days. The Board would have limits on for-profit representation and include patient and civil-society members. The bill would bar recent for-profit pharmaceutical lobbyists and some recent company executives from appointment and restrict certain post-government communications, with penalties for violations.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Tlaib
MI • D
Cosponsors
Lee (PA)
PA • D
Sponsored 3/5/2026
Cherfilus-McCormick
FL • D
Sponsored 3/5/2026
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
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