Interview, Fireside Chat
The Global Biomedical Industry: Preserving U.S. Leadership
- The industry is shifting toward personalized medicine, rendering the blockbuster drug model obsolete and limiting future sales for single drugs to a range of $400 to $500 million annually.
- Current U.S. regulatory and R&D frameworks, including the tax credit standing at 17th among 21 countries and an FDA ill-equipped for adaptive trial designs, require significant reform.
- Specific policy expectations include increasing the R&D tax credit by approximately 25% to make it permanent and reducing the federal corporate tax rate to roughly 23% to match the advanced economy average.
- Strategic plans involve boosting NIH funding to enhance clinical trial efficiency and increasing resources within the FDA to facilitate the transition to personalized medicine systems.
- Risks include losing competitive dominance to nations like China, India, and Singapore, as well as potential regression to Europe, if the U.S. fails to address a lack of youth engagement in STEM education.
- Global competitors are accelerating their advantage by investing heavily in research institute funding, seed capital for commercialization, and advancements in emerging fields such as nanotechnology.