The United States is losing ground as the global leader in medical innovation and must pursue coordinated action at the highest levels of government to ensure U.S. competitiveness and create high-paying jobs, according to a new study.
“Gone Tomorrow? A Call to Promote Medical Innovation, Create Jobs, and Find Cures in America,” commissioned by the Council for American Medical Innovation, surveyed leaders representing patients, academia, private industry, research, labor, venture capital, government, and economic development.
“Medical innovation presents the best opportunity to help innovate our way out of the health and economic crises facing America today, but it’s clear the clock is ticking,” said Richard Gephardt, former U.S. House Majority Leader and CAMI Chairman. “Advancing a national strategy for medical innovation that engages all sectors – public, private and academic – through an empowered federal office is an effective first step.”
CAMI commissioned the research firm Battelle to identify and highlight the best public policy ideas, which CAMI will bring to Congress and the Obama Administration as part of a call for a focused national policy framework for medical innovation.
Based on the findings of the Battelle study, CAMI has outlined a set of near-term priorities to help drive their policy recommendations:
- White House-Level Leadership: CAMI says coordinating efforts at the highest levels of government is essential to ensuring near-term progress.
- Forming Unique Public-Private Partnerships: One consistent theme cited in the study is that neither government nor the private sector is positioned to address single-handedly the challenges to America’s leadership in biomedical innovation. CAMI recommends a coordinated national effort that engages leaders in the public and private sectors.
- Strengthening Investments in R&D and Manufacturing to Foster Job Growth and Enhance U.S. Competitiveness: CAMI says Congress has a near-term opportunity to make the federal R&D tax credit permanent and raise it to levels that make it globally competitive, thus providing incentives for investment that will serve as a cornerstone of a national medical innovation agenda.
- Enhancing Regulatory Sciences Efforts at the Food and Drug Administration: CAMI is calling on federal leaders to strengthen and meaningfully fund a collaborative effort to develop a Regulatory Sciences Roadmap that builds upon and advances existing efforts to bring the best science to the review and approval of biomedical advances.
- Increasing the U.S. Biosciences Talent Pool: CAMI is calling for targeted federal support for the biosciences through K-12 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education efforts, bioscience teacher preparation and professional development.
“It is time for all stakeholders, from the private sector to government, to embrace an aggressive and comprehensive medical innovation agenda. If we make the right decisions today, the economic and human benefits provided through medical innovation will be far reaching,” said Debra R. Lappin, president of CAMI.