Seniors Speak Out Statement on the Proposed Amendment to Repeal the ORPHAN Cures Act

June 4, 2026—Seniors Speak Out, a national healthcare policy advocacy group, issued the following statement in opposition to the proposed repeal of the ORPHAN Cures Act:

"Seniors Speak Out strongly opposes Senator Welch's amendment to repeal the Optimizing Research Progress Hope And New (ORPHAN) Cures Act. The ORPHAN Cures Act amends the Inflation Reduction Act's drug negotiation provisions to protect innovation incentives for rare disease treatments by exempting orphan drugs from Medicare price negotiations. Seniors living with rare diseases already face significant access and cost barriers to their everyday treatments. Diminishing incentives to develop new orphan therapies only deepens these challenges, placing seniors and all patients in vulnerable situations. We urge lawmakers to oppose Senator Welch's amendment, protect our rare disease pipeline, and stand up for the seniors who depend on it."