CEO DATELINE - Amid industry criticism, PhRMA changes strategy
CEO DATELINE - Amid industry criticism, PhRMA changes strategy
- November 9, 2015 |
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Walt Williams
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When a pharmaceutical company recently hiked the price of a potentially life-saving drug from a few dollars to $750 per pill, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America did something it had rarely done in the past: It publicly criticized the decision. That move may signal a shift in strategy for the association, according to the health news site Stat.
PhRMA, like many associations, isn't known to second-guess decisions by companies in its industry. But recently the group has been doing just that. First there was the public criticism of Turing Pharmaceuticals, the company that dramatically raised the price of a drug used for treating toxoplasmosis. That was followed by a blog post in which the association tried to distance the industry from a second company, Valeant Pharmaceuticals, which it described as more of a hedge fund than a drug company.
The change in PhRMA's approach is coming as the pharmaceutical industry comes under fire for the soaring price of drugs.
"No doubt, this is an intense period of time where there's a lot of scrutiny, and I think there's a recognition about the industry that we actually have a great story to tell, a great narrative," Lori Reilly, PhRMA's executive vice president for policy and research, told Stat.
Former PhRMA President Billy Tauzin told Stat the association always sought to have the industry speak with a unified voice. For years its members operated under an informal rule know as the "Mayflower Compact," in which a company could only dissent from a PhRMA position if it notified the other members in advance. (PhRMA says that rule is no longer in effect.)
"Everything we did, we were unanimous, and the reason was they understood the old adage: ‘Together, we succeed. Separated, we fail,'" Tauzin said. http://bit.ly/1PxNSQW
PhRMA is not the only association to react to the Turing Pharmaceuticals controversy. The Biotechnology Industry Organization booted the company from its membership after news of the price hike became public.
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