Dorothy Goodin | Feb 8, 2017

Biotech group applauds Trump promise

President Donald Trump’s vow to reduce “unnecessary” regulations in the biotechnology industry and increase competition received a warm welcome recently from a large biotech trade group.

"We look forward to working with President Trump and his team to enact policies that ensure better access to and affordability of today’s medicines and the vision the President laid out in his inaugural address ‘….to free the earth from the miseries of disease, and to harness the energies, industries and technologies of tomorrow,’ ” the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) said on its website.

The group said it was particularly pleased with Trump’s vow to “oppose anything that makes it harder for smaller, younger companies to take the risk of bringing their product to a vibrantly competitive market.”

“The vast majority of our member companies are entrepreneurial start-ups working on cutting-edge research and development that is leading the way to the next generation of biomedical breakthroughs and cures,” BIO said. “They rely heavily on massive amounts of private capital, invested over a decade or more, to do the incredible work that they do – and therefore are particularly sensitive to changes in public policy that can increase the risk of such investments. We are pleased that the President clearly understands this dynamic."

The president’s list of changes to the industry were in line with what the agency has been pushing for, it said.

“They will go a long way toward ensuring that patients have affordable access to today's innovative medicines and that our companies have the policy and regulatory environment they need to bring a new generation of breakthrough medicines to our children and grandchildren,” BIO said.

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