In a reversal from the version that passed out of the Senate Finance Committee, the version of the tax bill that passed the Senate eliminated the requirement that the Orphan Drug tax credit be transparent as to taxpayer, drug and indication, a victory for pharma, making R&D outlays and public subsidies less transparent.
Lobbyists for drug companies were more focused on eliminating the transparency provisions that preserving the higher rate of 50 percent. The revised credit is 27.5 percent, which makes trials for orphan products 45 percent more expensive for a company financing a trial.
