Biopharma CEOs meeting with Obama on TPP
Chairman and CEO Kenneth Frazier of Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE:MRK), CEO George Scangos of Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB) and other biopharma CEOs are slated to meet with President Obama on Thursday to discuss the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, multiple pharma industry sources told BioCentury. Frazier is chairman of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), and Scangos is PhRMA's chairman-elect.
The White House, which requested the meeting, is launching an all-out effort to attract support for the trade deal. Obama will be speaking to a skeptical audience. PhRMA and the Biotechnology Industry Association (BIO) have expressed strong disappointment in TPP because it does not require other countries to adopt a 12-year market exclusivity term for biologics (see BioCentury Extra, Oct. 5). ...