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The campaign to “make America healthy again” with the announcement of Robert F Kennedy (RFK) as US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to the top health office – is being closely watched by the pharmaceutical industry and health circles not just in the US, but other parts of the world, including India.
A known vaccine sceptic, RFK was catapulted into popular discussion during Covid-19, when he raised concerns on vaccines, among other things. More recently, his campaign put the spotlight on concerns like obesity – a segment that is a major draw for pharmaceutical companies looking at weight-loss drugs. RFK also trained his guns on US health agencies, including the US Food and Drug Administration.
Announcing RFK for the job of Secretary, Health and Human Services (HHS), Trump said on X (formerly Twitter), “For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to public health.”
HHS will play a big role “in helping ensure that everybody is protected from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and food additives that have contributed to the overwhelming health crisis in this country,” Trump tweeted, adding that Kennedy “will restore these agencies to the traditions of Gold Standard Scientific Research, and beacons of transparency,”
The reactions came in fast, including from the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). Its President and CEO, Stephen J. Ubl, said in a statement, “This industry is a crown jewel of the American economy, giving American patients more medicine choices than anywhere else in the world, and supporting millions of high-paying, high-tech jobs around the country.”
Further, he added, “We want to work with the Trump administration to further strengthen our innovation ecosystem and improve healthcare for patients. Our industry has long argued that the US must do more to address the growing epidemic of chronic disease, which is the biggest driver of healthcare spending.”
Addressing access, he said, “policymakers also need to address the misaligned incentives in the system that let insurers…. large hospital systems pad their profits, while forcing patients to pay more than they should for their medicines”. Finally, he said, “we must fix the flaws in the so-called Inflation Reduction Act that are undermining our world-leading innovation ecosystem and have already resulted in higher premiums, fewer plan choices and more frustrating insurance denials for medicare patients.”
Indian drugmakers selling into the US have been optimistic, their role in providing less expensive drugs would not be upset. A recent IQVIA report commissioned by the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance had said, “four out of 10 of all prescriptions filled in the US in 2022” were supplied by Indian companies. Meanwhile, they watch the unravelling of events in the US – a regulatory ecosystem that will impact companies exporting into this market.
