Last month, more than 40 foreign ambassadors traveled from their embassies in Washington, DC to spend the day in Delaware.
This was a remarkable historical event for our small state. These were the senior diplomatic representatives of their countries and professionals at the top of their game who came to study with a focus on the nation’s economy and higher education, especially science and technology.
We were fortunate enough to take part in this opportunity to share the Delaware bio-story with leaders from around the world, including South Korea, Iraq, Suriname, Panama, Laos, Sierra Leone, Albania, and more.
Each diplomat was deeply concerned and impressed by what they heard. Delaware’s life sciences department thrives at its epicenter in one of the world’s most active regions of biomedical innovation.
I believe that any of the beautiful and important countries like Portugal, Montenegro, Iceland and Panama will produce 11,000 amazing jobs of all kinds, even just a fraction of the bioscience engine that is here. I was impressed by the reality of wanting Economic production of billions.
The ambassadors asked me about Delaware’s successes and opportunities to work with researchers from their home country. How did we grow such a robust life sciences environment?
Funding painstaking and expensive research that will (hopefully) take years to yield innovative treatments and technologies that benefit human health is a common problem in the investment community. These investors understand that they take significant risks in funding early-stage companies, and that long-shot drug development is worth it with the prospect of a decent return on capital. teach.
It’s a less-discussed and poorly-understood concept, but this model has made the United States, and states like Delaware, unparalleled global leaders in biomedical research and patient care. , biotech investors highlight message to Congress when drug pricing controls were considered last month, rethinking potential unintended consequences of complex new pricing paradigms: fewer innovative new drugs I urged the leaders of the House and Senate to do so. As a result of an intra-party vote, it is now imposed on all new drugs.
In fact, no other industry invests so much in R&D while doing good things. US biopharmaceutical companies spend more than $100 billion annually on new drug development. The investment has led to a 60% increase in new drugs, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Approvals from 2010 to 2019 and the previous decade.
Entrepreneurial, research-based American companies that are responsible for this productive, fair and predictable intellectual property (IP) framework make America’s bioscience industry a world pride and a critical strategic national security asset. , and more actually a recipient of foreign investment. Between 2009 and 2019, $420 billion of foreign investment was poured into the industry. This dwarfs her second closest competitor, Switzerland, whose inward capital flows are relatively meager at $34 billion.
Not coincidentally, price controls in Europe and Japan have accelerated this trend as the historical strength of the sector in these regions has declined significantly.
Price controls discourage long-term investment incentives, and the biopharmaceutical industry is fundamentally a long-term enterprise. According to a new Moody’s report, “pharmaceutical pricing provisions [Inflation Reduction Act] This poses long-term challenges for the pharmaceutical industry, which could ultimately have detrimental effects on the industry as a whole. “
Take two large corporations in Delaware as an example. Incyte completes the first drug Nine years After setting up the company here – I mean, they had no product revenue for almost 10 years when they became one of our most important employers (terms).
Prelude Therapeutics reported a loss of $27 million last quarter, not unusual for a pre-earnings biotech. $21 million is being spent on research to advance multiple new drugs against complex and deadly cancers.
Every time Incyte and Prelude progress and commercialize a pipeline of new cutting-edge drugs, there are 10 companies you never heard of that shut down after years and millions of dollars of investment.
Successful biopharmaceutical companies also have many other companies that support their specialized technology, manufacturing, and other service needs.
New legislation passed by Congress through changes that protect and encourage American investment in innovative research and development, and meaningful and comprehensive changes to the drug pricing and reimbursement system that prioritize patient access. I hope they improve. In the meantime, we will continue to engage our elected representatives to ensure they understand the immense sacrifice, spirit, and cost involved in bringing life-changing treatments and vaccines to America and the world. increase.
Michael Fleming is president of the Delaware BioScience Association.