Play in the sand box

"Our experience has shown the importance of maintaining the conditions which have made the United States a world leader in biomedical research. This leadership is especially true for the biotechnology industry, whose extraordinary breakthroughs hold great promise for the future."The reader may be surprised to find these words uttered by Sen. Edward Kennedy, whose drive for national health insurance seems to have originated in the Pliocene and whose liberal credentials would make him seem destined to stand aside as the biotech community from his state tilts at the price control windmills set out by the Clinton administration.

But this is not what Sen. Kennedy did last week when his Labor and Human Resources Committee held hearings on the president's Health Security Act and the role of the pharmaceutical industry. While lauding the adminstration's intentions to provide affordable prescription drugs, Kennedy said "a key part of meeting this challenge is to do so without jeopardizing the research and development needed for new drugs."...