In this post in the Hill’s “Congress Blog,” John Castellani, president and CEO of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, reports on how biopharmaceutical exports benefit the U.S. economy and global health, writing, “Leadership is needed to help keep U.S. biopharmaceutical research companies competitive in the global export market.” He continues, “According to the Administration, if we increased exports by just five percent, we would create hundreds of thousands of new U.S. jobs. … Among the ways that they can advance this effort is by knocking down foreign barriers and promoting strong intellectual property (IP) protections that allow biopharmaceutical companies to bring their medicines into other markets and, importantly, to the patients who need them.”

“A strong U.S. biopharmaceutical research sector is essential to meeting these global challenges. For biopharmaceutical innovation to continue, government trade policy — such as [the National Export Initiative (NEI)] and U.S. trade initiatives — must embrace a set of rules and protections to ensure that the sector benefits from its work and continues making critical [research and development (R&D)] investments,” Castellani concludes (12/13).