Dose of biotech grows economy
24th June 2009
A vibrant, robust climate of investment and research in biotechnology is an essential engine for economic growth for our nation. Much of that important research and development is happening right here in Massachusetts, where biotech businesses represent one of the fastest growing sectors of the state’s economy.
As Congress prepares to debate health care reform, it is imperative to recognize how patients around the world have already benefited from innovative medicines developed by the hundreds of life sciences companies and thousands of jobs in Cambridge, Worcester and beyond. But we must fight to maintain that competitive edge.
Biotechnology has created breakthrough drugs and treatments to help patients suffering from some of the world’s most challenging and devastating diseases including cancer, HIV/AIDS and Parkinson’s. Biologics, the complex protein derived from living cells, have also shown tremendous promise in tackling other diseases.
By some estimates, bringing a new biologic drug to market can cost $800 million because of the lengthy drug discovery, development and review process, often taking as much as 15 years. Venture capitalists have invested $7 billion in biotechnology in the past six years. If incentives for investment disappear, the American biotechnology industry will suffer, potentially resulting in the discovery of fewer life-saving treatments.
Some members of Congress are considering legislation within the debate over health care reform that could put patient safety at risk and stifle innovation. One bill, sponsored by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), would broaden access to biologic medicines by applying the model for producing generic versions of traditional drugs to breakthrough biologic drugs. Such a model would not only threaten patient safety, it would stifle innovation by removing the incentives for investment.
A separate bill sponsored by Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), backed by many members of the Massachusetts delegation, recognizes that unlike traditional pharmaceuticals that can easily be replicated into generic form, biotech drugs are grown from living cells. As the FDA has recognized, these drugs are so complex that current science does not allow for exact copies to be made.
Sen. Edward Kennedy has been a leader in recognizing these distinctions, and the impact this industry has on our economy. He was chief negotiator during the last Congress in forging a compromise on biosimilars and he is expected to again play an integral part as he spearheads health care reform.
Most importantly to us here in Massachusetts, the Eshoo legislation and Kennedy’s compromise bill would ensure that the extensive multiyear investment made in the research and development of each new medication would be protected, and investment and job creation here wouldn’t be threatened by a company making a “similar” product.
The result will be the safe introduction of biosimilars that maintain the highest standards for patient safety while providing the necessary incentives to promote innovation and investment in communities such as Cambridge and Worcester, resulting in new therapies and cures.
Not only will effective regulation of biosimilars protect patient safety, it will also ensure continued economic growth here in Massachusetts and more jobs in the discovery of new cures and life-saving medicines.
Kelly Thompson Clark is president of the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce. Richard Kennedy is president of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce.