Yesterday, I spent the day in Menlo Park with national and
state partners who came together to discuss the future of biotechnology in
Northern California. The Bioscience
Business Roundtable is the voice of industry leaders in the bioscience community promoting public
policies on the federal, state and local level that provides a dialogue and proposes
solutions to keep America’s place as a world leader in the bioscience sector.
Three tenets discussed by industry leaders were the
promotion of access and prevention and the encouragement of innovation through
building a greater understanding of the roles of government, the business
community, and academia.
The forum included some of the most influential public
policy officials in the country and the state of California including –
- Dr.
Doug Kelly of Alloy Ventures - Lori
Reilly, Vice President of PhRMA - Geoff
Eich who directs regulatory affairs at Amgen - The Hill White House Correspondent Sam
Youngman - Acting
California Labor & Workforce Development Secretary Douglas Hoffner - Matt
Gardner of Bay BIO - Deputy
CHHS Secretary Kathryn Lowell - Sean
Randolph of the Bay Area Council Economic Institute - Jack
Stewart of the CA Manufacturer’s & Technology Association - Dick
Caster of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Western Region - Assemblyman
Jerry Hill, Chairman of the Select Committee on Biotechnology - Assemblyman
Nathan Fletcher, Vice Chairman of the Select Committee on Biotechnology
The lofty discussion focused on fostering medical
innovation, the future of biomedical research, and a discussion of major
achievements in drug discovery, treatment and prevention. Many reflected on high growth jobs in
the biopharmaceutical industry and the local impact of supporting and creating
some half a million jobs in California alone.
While it’s clear that this is an industry that needs to be highlighted
more often and taken more seriously, Assemblyman Hill made the comment that
while government officials and industry leaders are collaborating, there still
remains a lack of awareness of biomedical benefits and advances among rank and
file citizens.
The elephant in the room was evident – the impact the
current health care reform debate nationally would have on the industry was a
"buzz" topic. Sam Youngman of The Hill undoubtedly had the best
"insider" perspective as a member of the national press corps stating that his
blackberry hadn’t stopped going off with various text and on-line discussions
of the impact of Senator Ted Kennedy’s death. The question wasn’t whether it would alter the national
health care debate – but how.
Youngman believes Kennedy’s death will undoubtedly spark energy
in the left. He felt that the
President has failed in making an emotional connection with citizens but that
Kennedy’s passing couldn’t have come at a more pivotal moment in the
debate. Senator Robert Byrd of
West Virginia has even suggested renaming Obama’s universal health care bill
after Kennedy as a memorial gesture to his many years of advocacy on behalf of
universal, government run health care.
The Q&A session that followed Youngman’s keynote
involved parallels between the Clinton effort in 1994 (which like the current
debate included "trial balloons made of lead") and a lack-luster campaign that
didn’t appeal to real people.
In subsequent weeks, we’ll see the impact of the late
Senator Kennedy and whether he, even in his passing, can resurrect the Obama
health care plan.
There is no doubt that small business, individuals, and the
bioscience industry will be forever impacted in the days and months ahead as
the national debate progresses.
The final chapters of Camelot in Massachusetts and the impact of the
Kennedy family dynasty on our nation aren’t complete yet.