Despite
increasing budget pressures, countries around the world are making substantial
investments in pro-innovation policies and programs to lure the
biopharmaceutical research sector away from the U.S., finds a new study
released by Battelle Technology Partnership Practice.
The
study, commissioned by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America
(PhRMA), further found that while many countries are cutting public
expenditures, they are continuing to expand research and development incentives
to attract and grow their biopharmaceutical company presence. Despite the
short-term costs associated with these investments, foreign governments
recognize the long-term economic benefits.
"In
countries around the world, governments clearly recognize the potential benefit
that biopharmaceutical research companies offer in terms of economic
contributions and job growth — especially in a time when economic growth is so
fundamentally needed," said PhRMA President and CEO John J. Castellani.
"If the U.S. doesn''t take similar pro-innovation policy steps to counter
these efforts - such as reauthorization of the Prescription Drug User Fee Act,
progress on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, intellectual property incentives
such as 12 years of data protection for innovator biologics, and a permanent
R&D tax credit - our global leadership in medical innovation is at
risk."
A U.S.
policy framework to help counter these efforts would provide regulatory
certainty, ensure patient choice and access to medicines, and incentivize
future research and development, he explained.
Battelle''s
report focused on 18 countries and the European Union. These countries were
selected because of their interest in growing an innovation economy through
pro-innovation policies and programs that can be applied to R&D-intensive
sectors such as the biopharmaceutical industry.
For
example, other countries are increasingly seeking to make substantial public
investments in R&D infrastructure, fostering R&D investment via tax and
other research incentives, focusing on attracting and growing talent in related
employment fields, ensuring access to capital and fostering public-private
partnerships.
In
addition, many countries have their own national innovation agenda specifically
focusing on biomedical research.
Countries
selected include a mix of developed countries with existing biopharmaceutical
presence (Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan,
Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the EU) and emerging countries that are
targeting the sector for new growth (Brazil, Chile, China, Russia, Saudi
Arabia, Singapore, South Africa and South Korea).
"Until
the early 1990s, Germany was known as ''the world''s medicine cabinet,''"
said Castellani. "Unless we take steps to support innovative industries at
a national level, we too will lose our standing, and with it, our jobs. Without
a national biomedical innovation agenda, we''re not pitting America up against
other countries - we''re pitting our states up against like-minded foreign
governments. So states with vibrant biopharmaceutical research clusters, like
North Carolina and Massachusetts, aren''t just competing with each other.
They''re competing with countries like Singapore."
In the
U.S., the biopharmaceutical sector is a large contributor to our economic
landscape, with more than 650,000 direct jobs (supporting a total of nearly 4
million jobs) and an economic output that totals more than $900 billion. Also,
the sector accounts for nearly 20 percent of all research and development
investment by businesses in America. The impact of the sector goes beyond jobs
- over the last decade, biopharmaceutical companies have brought more than 300
new medicines to the patients who need them.