MASSDEVICE ON CALL — A pair of important medical device industry legislations were momentarily combined when Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) announced plans to include language repealing the 2.3% medical device tax in a bill reauthorizing the user fees device and drug makers pay for FDA review.
The effort was short-lived. On Monday Sen. Dan Coates, a co-sponsor of the Hatch amendment, conceded that Hatch planned to find "another vehicle" for his tax repeal efforts so as to avoid stalling the FDA user fee agreements.
"We are not taking [the medical device tax] up in this bill so as not to try to derail the bill," Coates said on the Senate floor. "I understand an agreement has been made that it would be set aside. I know Senator Hatch, on our side, is looking for an opportunity to bring that up in another vehicle, and I want to support that. I encourage my colleagues to take a look at the impact of that fee on our ability as a nation to be the leader in innovation and export of medical devices."
It wouldn’t have been the first time Hatch, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, wedged his med-tech tax repeal amendment onto a larger initiative. Last summer the Senator attempted to include the measure in the Korean Free Trade Act, along with amendments to repeal other mandates contained in President Barack Obama’s landmark health care reform bill.
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