USA's BIO campaigns for Sarbanes-Oxley reform

The Biotechnology Industry Association, which represents more than 1,100 biotechnology companies, academic research institutes and related centers in 32 countries, including the USA, has issued a statement of support for the Compete Act of 2007 (HR1508 and S869), proposed by House of Representatives member, Gregory Meeks (Democrat, New York), and Senator Jim DeMint (Republican, South Carolina). The proposed legislation would alleviate some of the restrictions imposed on biotechnology firms by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act of 2002. The SOX rules were introduced in a reaction against the Enron financial scandal of the late 1990s.