Boosting American pharmaceutical innovation

Scott Gottlieb focuses on a little-discussed American advantage over global competitors.

At a time when the federal government is reducing funding for biomedical research at the National Institutes of Health—thereby fraying the partnership between government and academia that made US biomedicine the envy of the world—and as large-scale staff reductions at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are hindering drug development and delaying some approvals, the US’s standing as the globe’s foremost hub for biomedical innovation faces an increasingly serious challenge from China. Yet, even as US policymakers fixate on geopolitical rivalry with China, remarkably little attention is being paid to the risk that the US might surrender its strategic edge in biomedicine, a loss every bit as damaging as falling behind in semiconductors, rare earth minerals, or military hardware. If the US is serious about staying at the forefront of biomedicine, fresh approaches that reduce discovery hurdles and enable a wider spectrum of researchers, especially those in academic laboratories, are needed to navigate the complexities of drug development.

A robust biomedical ecosystem provides the US with strategic independence, reducing its vulnerability to geopolitical adversaries who might exploit crises by withholding critical technologies. By sustaining leadership in biomedical innovation, the US can also set global regulatory norms and ethical benchmarks in biotechnology, limiting the ability of rival powers to advance agendas incompatible with US interests. In the long run, maintaining a decisive edge in these areas ensures US autonomy, preventing other nations from controlling the technologies that shape the health and security of US citizens in such key goals of reducing the burden of chronic disease and addressing unmet medical needs. …

… Now that Chinese firms have mastered medicinal chemistry along with the underlying science and sophisticated manufacturing processes needed to develop advanced biologics, they can often produce drug candidates more quickly and cheaply than their US counterparts. Instead of merely executing Western blueprints, the Chinese drugmakers create proprietary compounds, notably in cutting-edge areas such as antibody drugs and cell therapies.

The post Boosting American pharmaceutical innovation first appeared on John Locke Foundation.