Latest from @adamcancryn on the internal Biden administration debate over an FDA commissioner, and concerns that Janet Woodcock is too close/sympathetic to pharmaceutical industry.
In 2009, when E&C Committee was writing its version of what became the the Affordable Care Act, Eshoo pushed to give biologics a longer "exclusivity" period.
Chairman Henry Waxman, who thought it was a giveaway to industry, opposed that strongly. Eshoo prevailed. (2)
As legislation moved through Congress, Waxman kept fighting to reduce that period. So did Obama, who agreed w/Waxman and was really worked up about it.
This is an important dynamic to watch inside the Biden administration -- in particular, how perspective on cancer drugs and now, perhaps, COVID vaccination will shape views and ultimately policy decisions that affect the pharmaceutical industry. (4)
The substantive backdrop to these discussions is about tradeoffs -- real or imagined, depending on your views -- between government regulation and innovation.
Choice of FDA commissioner could be an early indicator of how Biden and his advisers think about these issues. (5)
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Per this chart I made this week, of Senate seats that changed parties 2009 to 2021, Dems had more than a dozen in R-states. Survival strategy for most was to create distance from party & liberal-sounding policies. (2) citizencohn.substack.com/p/one-reason-2…
Here's what Phil Schiliro, who was director of legislative strategy at the White House under Obama, told me for @HuffPost article on this. (Similar quotes in my book on the ACA.)
This exchange in particular deserves emphasis -- i.e., how the difficulty isn't any one thing.
So it's not supply or distribution. It's supply *and* distribution. With a different situation in every community. And conditions that will change with time.
Biden's strategy reflects this. It's got many small parts, no single one of which is a game-changer. But together they add up.
Or, at least, we hope they add up. The test will be execution.
One thing to put these ideas on a piece of paper. Another to put them into action.