Innovate to Save Lives Act

The Innovate to Save Lives Act creates a targeted tax incentive to encourage small businesses to conduct research aimed at mitigating drug threats. Specifically, it adds a 10% tax credit for small businesses for qualified drug threat mitigation research expenses, modeled after the existing research and development (R&D) tax credit rules. The bill defines what qualifies as drug threat mitigation research (and which drugs are covered), sets eligibility criteria for the research expenses, and requires that clinical research meet NIH guidelines. It applies to taxable years after enactment, and the Comptroller General must deliver a GAO report in five years detailing the credits claimed and the types of research supported, with data anonymity and non-impediment safeguards. In short, the bill channels federal tax benefits to small businesses pursuing R&D to counter emerging drugs, fentanyl and related substances, and methamphetamine, with a framework that mirrors the traditional R&D credit but tightly focused on drug-threat mitigation.