During oral arguments on the Affordable Care Act at the Supreme Court, attention focused on the constitutionality of the individual mandate to buy health insurance. But for biopharma, what is at stake are provisions that directly affect the industry.

These include the biosimilars pathway at FDA; the rebates and fees the industry already is paying in exchange for a bigger population of insured patients; and the Independent Payment Advisory Board, which would have broad powers to curtail Medicare spending.