SAN FRANCISCO -- In its efforts to dissuade the Clintonadministration from setting drug price controls, thebiotechnology industry is emphasizing the number of jobs ithas created.

"This is the argument that seems to work now," GenentechInc.'s senior director of governmental affairs, Walter Moore,said at a session of the International Biotechnology Expo &Conference (IBEX) '93 here on Tuesday. The conference runsthrough Thursday.

Moore asserted that the biomedical industry in California,including companies, research institutions and hospitals,represents 143,000 jobs. In addition, he said 20 percent ofconstruction in Northern California is associated with thebiotechnology industry. This is particularly important in thehealth-care reform debate, Moore said, given Clinton's focus onjobs and California.

Moore reiterated the two major issues the biotechnologyindustry opposes in Clinton's draft of the health-care reformplan: the ability of the secretary of Health and Human Servicesto blacklist drugs from Medicare reimbursement if thesecretary determines that they are too expensive; and theestablishment of a breakthrough drug committee that woulddetermine if the cost of an approved drug is appropriate. Thecommittee would be a part of a national health board tooversee implementation of health-care reform. Moore alsonoted that the industry opposes the issue of global budgets andpremium caps, which he said will force new therapies tocompete with old ones on the basis of cost rather than outcome.

The draft plan was released Sept. 7; the final plan was printedon Monday and is expected to be released soon.

If the first two provisions are eliminated, Moore said thebiotechnology industry could accept health-care reform andutilize outcomes assessment to defend itself. "If all therapiesare measured against one another, it is better for the wholesystem," Moore said.

He cited several bills that have been introduced that offeralternatives to Clinton's plan. They include legislation by Sen.Phil Gramm, R-Texas, to set up medical IRAs; and a bill by Sen.John Chafee, R-R.I., that would establish managed competitionwithout a global budget or an employer mandate; andcompanion bills introduced in the House of Representatives byJim Cooper, D-Tenn., and in the Senate by David Durenberger,R-Minn., that would exclude an employer mandate and set atax cap on premiums.

While "more members in Congress support managedcompetition," Moore said the committees through which thebills must flow "are far more liberal than Congress as a whole."

Asserting that "we are at great risk," Moore noted that Rep.Henry Waxman, D-Calif., chairs the Energy and CommerceHealth Subcommittee, which must clear health-care legislation,and Sen. David Pryor, D-Ark., who has been a leading critic ofdrug pricing, chairs the Aging Committee and is a member ofthe Senate Finance Committee. Moore said Pryor will hold ahearing on the issue in the next couple of weeks.

The president's scientific adviser, John Gibbons, gave thekeynote luncheon address at IBEX. He mentioned severalinitiatives the Clinton administration is considering to sustainthe growth of the biotechnology industry. These includemaking R&D tax credits permanent, reducing the capital gainstax, expanding the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)program, and shifting the current 60-40 split between militaryand civilian research funding to at least a 50-50 split.

At a press conference before his speech, Gibbons noted that hehad come to the meeting to learn about the biotechnologyindustry. On Monday he met with chief executive officers fromdomestic and international biotechnology companies. He said helearned that there is a major shortage of venture capital forsecond- and third-tier financing and later suggested thatreducing the capital gains tax could encourage moreinvestment.

-- Brenda Sandburg News Editor

(c) 1997 American Health Consultants. All rights reserved.