Stephen Ubl, new CEO of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association, has a lot of work ahead of him if he wants to repair the pharmaceutical industry's damaged reputation.

That's the conclusion of a recent New York Times profile of Ubl, the 47-year-old executive who became head of PhRMA in November. Noting pharmaceutical companies are seemingly under attack from all quarters—from doctors to White House hopefuls—the newspaper pointed out that anger over growing drug prices "has only grown worse."

Ubl, however, said blame over people's rising medical bills is misplaced.

"The debate around drug pricing is myopic and misinformed," he said. "It's myopic because 80 percent of health care costs or more are driven by a small percentage of patients with multiple chronic conditions."

One sore point for the industry has been the publicity surrounding "Pharma Bro" Martin Shkreli, who last year acquired the rights to a potentially life-saving medication then jacked up the price from $13.50 per tablet to $750. Shkreli's company is not a PhRMA member, but the association was quick to disown him nonetheless.

"People see a knucklehead like Martin Shkreli raised the price of a 62-year-old drug by 5,000 percent, and they connect the dots in a way that is not helpful or is highly misleading," Ubl told the Times.

Ubl described his advocacy approach as "holistic." He believes consumers and politicians must not focus on drug prices in isolation but consider the benefits in terms of overall health care spending. The CEO also pointed to his former leadership of the Advanced Medical Device Association, where he was able to bring Democrats and Republicans together in opposing a medical device tax that was created as part of the Affordable Care Act.

"I intend to take the same bipartisan approach at PhRMA," he said. http://nyti.ms/1WSa8GC

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