PhRMA On Translating Science Into Hope

By Rob Wright, Chief Editor, Life Science Leader
Follow Me On Twitter @RfwrightLSL

By Rob Wright

Members of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) were dealt some adversity on the first day (April 10) of the 2013 annual meeting with the announcement of President Obama’s 2014 budget proposal. In a released statement, PhRMA noted that the President has pressed for innovation and biomedical research, job creation, and the controlling of healthcare costs, and yet not one of these policies was included in the budget blueprint. “This is bad for patients, bad for innovation, and bad for the economy,” stated PhRMA SVP Matthew Bennett. In a meeting I had with PhRMA chairman elect Bob Hugin (CEO of Celgene), PhRMA chairman John Lechleiter (CEO of Eli Lilly), and John Castellani, president and CEO of PhRMA, their disappointment and frustration in the recent news was obvious. That being said, these leaders did not let what I would describe as misguided presidential policy principles put a damper on this year’s meeting theme — translating science into hope. Lechleiter views this not as a time to “hunker down,” a common approach during times of crisis, but instead to “fire up” and invest in growing the U.S. economy.

Lechleiter Fires Up PhRMA
In his welcome message to the nearly 300 attendees, Lechleiter discussed some of the successes of 2012 (i.e. 39 FDA drugs approved and the reauthorization of PDUFA 5). However, for the industry to continue to be successful, it needs progressive political policy making, similar to the likes of China which has made medical innovation a top priority. For example, China expects to spend $300 billion on science and technology under its latest five-year plan. The Chinese Academy of Sciences, with a staff of 54,600 academics, is the largest science and technology research organization in the world. Not only is China the world’s top producer of doctorates, but this year it surpassed the U.S. in number of billionaires produced — 212 to 211. Lechleiter believes the United States could benefit from a shorter, simpler process to retain highly skilled immigrant workers, such as those who complete their Ph.D. in stem cell research. According to Lechleiter, the H-1B skilled foreign worker visa is not enough as there are only 85,000 of these available on a yearly basis and the pharmaceutical industry is competing with other sectors, such as IT and healthcare for these highly demanded individuals. He believes that retaining these immigrants is a better option than allowing the talent to be lost to competing countries. 

In addition, Lechleiter and other presenters at PhRMA would like to see more tax incentives which support medical innovation in the United States . A recent Forbes article written by Ron Cohen, CEO Acorda Therapeutic, advocates some excellent ideas on where we should start and why.