Congress·In Committee·H.R. 2542

Old Drugs, New Cures Act

Drug Research: Incentives for New Uses of Old Medicines

Apr 1, 2025·View on Congress.gov·Read full text

This bill is one vehicle in a longer effort. See the full story across every version.View effort →

Next up: A house committeeNo action in 15 months

This bill is currently sitting in the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Committee on Ways and Means. No action has been taken on the bill since March 2025, which means it has been stalled for 15 months. It must receive a vote from these committees before it can move forward.

Legislative Progress

House

Senate

President

Law

Unlikely to pass

While the bill has bipartisan support, most bills introduced in the House never make it to a final vote, especially those that change how much money the government collects from drug companies.

How we got here

This bill’s path across every version that has carried it.

Reintroduced
Reintroduced from H.R. 8267 (118th), which died when its Congress ended.
H.R. 8267 (118th) →

Key Points

This bill creates a special label called priority research drugs for medicines that have been on the market for at least 10 years. To get this label, a company must be testing the drug to treat a new illness that currently has no other approved cure.
The new treatment must be aimed at conditions that are common among people using government health plans. This includes people on Medicaid, low-income seniors on Medicare, and veterans.
Under current rules, making small changes to a drug can sometimes force companies to pay higher rebates to the government. This bill stops those extra charges for these specific research drugs to make it more profitable for companies to find new uses for old medicines.
By lowering the cost of research, the bill aims to bring new treatments to patients faster. It focuses on using drugs we already know are safe to solve medical problems that do not have any solutions yet.

Impact Analysis

Govbase has not yet run an impact analysis on this legislation.

Milestones

2 milestones2 actions

Apr 1, 2025House

Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

Sent to a congressional committee for expert review. The committee decides whether this bill moves forward.

Apr 1, 2025

Introduced in House

The bill was officially filed and given a number. It now enters the legislative queue.

No votes, news coverage, or related bills recorded for this bill yet.

Source Information

Document Type

Congressional Bill

Official Title

Old Drugs, New Cures Act

Bill NumberHR 2542

Congress119th Congress

ChamberHouse of Representatives

Latest ActionReferred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

Data Sources

Congress.gov

Official legislative information

Read Full Bill Text

Sponsor

Cosponsors

(1)

R: 1

Analysis generated by AI. Always verify with official sources.