Stakeholders weigh in on incentives for drug development
Stakeholders discussed the limitations of market exclusivity to promote innovation in drug development at a Wednesday hearing held by the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee's subcommittee on health. Third Rock Ventures' Alexis Borisy said the existing five-year exclusivity period for new small molecules does not provide incentive for VCs and said the exclusivity period should be similar to the 12-year exclusivity period for biologics. Steven Miller, SVP and CMO at Express Scripts Holding Co. (NASDAQ:ESRX), however, said the pharmacy benefit manager is concerned that granting additional exclusivity inhibits innovation, "artificially restricts competition" and "affords the same reward to a breakthrough therapy as a less innovative product improvement." Miller said Congress and the E&C committee could spur drug development by providing additional funding to NIH and FDA.
Borisy also called for more funding for basic research, noting that funding for NIH has been "directly or effectively declining for the past several years." He also highlighted the need for incentives to promote the development of new diagnostics and cited the lack of consistent reimbursement policies as a barrier to diagnostic development. ...