BIO Responds To President Obama's Health Care Reform Address
Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) President and CEO Jim
Greenwood released the following statement in response to President
Obama's address on health care reform delivered tonight before a joint
session of the U.S. Congress:
"BIO shares President Obama's goal of ensuring that all Americans have
access to affordable, sustainable, high quality health care.
Biotechnology plays an essential role in achieving this goal.
Biotechnology expands the boundaries of science by discovering,
developing, and delivering innovative and needed medical products to
patients. Medical innovation in health care that leads to medical
advancements and breakthroughs, including health care solutions such as
new therapies and diagnostics, has always been and will continue to be
central to realizing our health care goals.
"Further, market-based reforms provide the best opportunity to achieve
the goal of universal access while providing high quality care and
incentives for the discovery and development of innovative improvements
throughout the health care delivery system.
"Through biologic medicines, therapies and diagnostic tools,
biotechnology also provides the best hope for reducing the incidence of
chronic disease. In this way, biotechnology can provide measurable
benefits in increased productivity, while at the same time saving the
scarce health care dollars spent on treating such diseases.
Biotechnology also can provide the immeasurable benefits of saving,
extending and improving the quality of life for patients living with
debilitating diseases such as cancer, Parkinson's, diabetes and multiple sclerosis.
"Congress can help expand access to biologic medicines, and expand
hope, by establishing a pathway for the regulatory approval of
biosimilars, medicines that are similar to but not the same as
pioneering biologic medicines. Both the Senate Committee on Health,
Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) and the House Energy and Commerce
Committees included biosimilars provisions in their health care reform
bills. These provisions received strong bipartisan support in each
committee.
"The language adopted by the committees strikes the necessary balance
among expanding access and competition, ensuring patient safety and
promoting continued biomedical innovation that will lead to new and
improved medicines and treatments. This language is a 'win-win' for the
patients of today and the patients of tomorrow.
"We urge the Congress to include this biosimilars language as they
continue efforts to reform our nation's health care system. We look
forward to continuing our participation in the process of health care
reform with the goal of increasing access and reducing costs while
promoting the continued development of new therapies and cures."
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