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PhRMA is honored to partner with the National Conference of State Legislature for a discussion celebrating 50 years of cures, innovation and policies that nurture progress. See below for some thoughts on the critical role states play in medical breakthroughs.
What do the most innovative, impactful medicines all have in common?
They start and end in the states. With the right political environment, states are the perfect place to host collaboration, bring treatments to patients and be the hub for significant economic and workforce benefits in the process.
But this isn’t inevitable; it’s the byproduct of smart policies and industry investment that nurture this.
Let’s look at the life cycle of a medicine.
- Before a medicine exists, the efforts of academic institutions, private companies and medical professionals combine to develop compounds, conduct research and pursue what seems impossible.
- Then, once a potential medicine is in development, it gets tested through various clinical settings in trial sites throughout states and localities with patients in search of hope for treatment, prevention and cures.
- Finally, once a medicine is approved, it is distributed back to patients through doctors, hospitals and independent pharmacists.
This story is sponsored by PhRMA.
Now, let’s talk results.
- New cancer medicines contributed to 1.3 million fewer cancer deaths between 2000 and 2016.
- A new generation of cardiovascular therapies have drastically cut hospitalization and mortality for patients over the last decade.
- New mental health treatments, including the first novel schizophrenia medication in decades, is offering hope to patients.
The progress is remarkable.
- Not just in terms of scientific advancement – but also in the value provided to the health care system by reducing the burden of disease and avoiding more costly health care services.
- Look at Alzheimer’s: It is projected to cost $1 trillion each year by 2050 unless we find a cure. No hospital or care facility is going to cure Alzheimer’s – only a medicine will do that.
- Even when collaboration does not produce a medicine, it still results in tangible benefits for states. Even though just 12% of New Molecular Entities that enter clinical trial eventually receive approval from the FDA, the process of searching for new medicines and cures still benefits local communities in broad ways.
- Take North Carolina for example where there are nearly 800 life science companies employing 70,000 people. Overall, the industry totals more than $1.6 trillion in economic output with 1,500 facilities in 48 states.
But a continually positive future is not guaranteed.
- While some policies are the foundations for innovation and continue U.S. biopharmaceutical leadership, other policies can take the hope of cures away from Americans.
- Policies like drug price-setting, for example, make it harder to develop medicines in any U.S. state – hurting both patients and local economies.
- By holding middlemen like pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) accountable and making insurance work the way insurance should, states can help patients access these medicines.
Policy decisions effect real people, and we should be looking to the states when we think about what we need to do to keep American the global leader in medicine development.
For case studies and more about how biopharmaceutical companies are investing in states across the country – creating new state-of-the-art facilities, high paying jobs and groundbreaking medicines – please visit Innovation.org