Drug Industry Feeling Beleaguered

Washington correspondent Dylan Scott reports from last week’s annual meeting of PhRMA, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. It was permeated, he says, by a feeling of being unfairly targeted and maligned. Among those doing the maligning, according to various speakers at the gathering, are presidential candidates Trump, Sanders and Clinton. The message from the industry: We’re making amazing discoveries and producing valuable products, but for the pipeline to remain open the public needs to understand the business and not promote policies (like price controls) that will thwart it. “The debate is largely myopic and misinformed,” said Stephen Ubl, PhRMA’s new president, and it “ignores the value our products bring to patients, the health care system and the broader economy.”