Category Archives: Jim’s Corner

Having experienced many election nights as a state legislator and Member of Congress, I still can’t help feeling that nervous excitement that all candidates get as they await the returns. This year was no exception. Though very happy not to have my name on the ballot, I was keenly interested, as I’m sure you were, in the unfolding drama and in what the results would mean for our country and for the future of the Read More >

This morning,U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced the awardees of the Therapeutic Discovery Project (TDP). The TDP makes available a tax credit to companies with 250 employees or fewer and covers up to 50 percent of qualified investments in projects aimed at creating new therapies, reducing long-term health care costs, or significantly advancing the goal of curing cancer within the next 30 years.  BIO was a strong advocate for the Read More >

Patients are always on our minds at BIO as we work to increase access to safe and effective therapies by advancing policies that support innovation. We all have friends and family members living with chronic conditions or fighting life-threatening diseases, such as cancer, Parkinson’s or ALS. Disease hit close to home recently when a member of the BIO family, Deputy General Counsel for Healthcare Sandi Dennis, was diagnosed with breast cancer. Fortunately, it was caught Read More >

Innovation is one of the things Americans do best and when it comes to creating new therapies, it’s also a key to job growth, strong small businesses, and our industry’s ability to address the needs of patients suffering from debilitating diseases such as cancer, HIV/AIDS and Alzheimer’s. The recently implemented Therapeutic Discovery Project Program offers a tax credit to small biotechnology companies on the cusp of discovering cutting-edge treatments and technologies that will have a Read More >

A recent editorial in the New York Times lays bare how demonization of biotechnology hinders innovations that can “save lives and protect the environment.” Opponents of genetic engineering stoke consumer distrust of biotechnology, against all evidence of the industry’s safety record, only to drive up regulatory costs for biotech companies, argue the authors, Pamela C. Ronald, a professor of plant pathology at the University of California, Davis, and co-author of Tomorrow’s Table, and James E. Read More >