Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) International Vice-President Jay Taylor has expressed the organization’s concerns over the Office of the United States Trade Representative’s (USTR) 2013 Special 301 Report. The Special 301 Report, released in May 2013, is an annual review of the state of intellectual property (IP) rights protection and enforcement in trading partners around the world and reflects the US Administration’s resolve to maintain IP protection worldwide.

Expressing appreciation for USTR’s efforts to ensure IP protection, Taylor expressed dismay that an out-of-cycle review was not granted for India. “The deteriorating protections for patented medicines in India have become increasingly concerning,” Taylor said in a PhRMA blog. “Over the past year, the Government of India has issued several intellectual property decisions that have disproportionately impacted US biopharmaceutical companies and a number of other innovative sectors. The IP regime in India has been structured and applied in ways that prop up local industries to the detriment of US jobs and the worlds patients.”

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PhRMA Senior Vice-President Matthew Bennett released a statement today on the state of the biopharmaceutical industry, in response to an analysis in the British Medical Journal. Bennett states that while the US may be lagging behind in spurring innovation programs, he believes the passage of the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) will improve the situation.

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As the White House and Congress battle the looming deadline to raise the country’s debt ceiling, what are the potential implications of the various debt-reduction proposals on the pharmaceutical industry? Read more »

A recent survey by the management-consulting firm Accenture shows that US consumers seeking medical advice turn to medical websites, social-media sites, online communities, and informational websites in far greater numbers than they turn to the websites of pharmaceutical companies. The survey results underscore an important question for pharmaceutical companies: namely, how to use new media more actively in their own communication while ensuring the overall quality of online information for  pharmaceuticals. Read more »

Recently, the US Senate voted against a bill that would have made permanent the research and development (R&D) tax credit, thus dealing a blow to one of the pharmaceutical industry’s legislative priorities. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America and the Biotechnology Industry Organization have been agitating for Congress to make the R&D tax credit permanent. They argue that it would promote job growth. We certainly need it, but would the tax credit achieve this goal? Recent history seems to indicate otherwise. Read more »

The legislative battle for healthcare reform ended on Thursday night Mar. 25 following the passage by both houses of Congress of a slightly amended version of “The Healthcare and Education Reconciliation Act” (HR 4872), the so-called “fixer bill” to the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” (HR 3590), the healthcare reform legislation that was passed by the US House of Representatives on Sunday Mar. 21 and signed into law (Public Law No,111-148) by President Barack Obama on Tuesday Mar. 23. The reconciliation legislation (HR 4872) now goes to the President for his signature, which would clear the last hurdle for healthcare reform after a grueling week of intense debate and parliamentary efforts to both advance and stop final passage. The debate on the myriad of measures in the healthcare reform package will no doubt continue, but as the dust settles, at least momentarily, what are some of the implications for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries? Read more »

I’ve written previously about the potential health dangers that discarded drugs pose to our water supply. This year, 13 states are considering bills that would create drug take-back programs. Maine’s House of Representatives recently endorsed a plan that would require drug manufacturers to set up and operate programs to collect, transport, manage, and dispose of unwanted drugs. Read more »

Company websites, news websites, other content-based websites, and microblogging sites such as Twitter, are important vehicles of communication for disseminating information. A challenge for stakeholders in the pharmaceutical industry—the public at large, patients, medical personnel, drug companies, and regulators—is to have a mechanism for how that information can be effectively and responsibly communicated. Read more »

The US Senate’s vote this past weekend to proceed with debate on a legislative proposal for healthcare reform portends—what by all accounts—promises to be yet another rigorous round of policy and political opinion. A Google search for the past week alone shows that almost 500,000 blogs (459,049 at the time of posting of this blog) have been posted in response to the Senate’s action to move forward with considering healthcare reform. In the swirl of this public opinion, where does the pharmaceutical industry stand? Read more »

A new study published in the American Journal of Public Health claims that prescription drug direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) can be harmful to a person’s health. According to the researchers, prescription drug advertisements are “not doing a good job of helping consumers to make better decisions about their health”. Read more »