 |
| AdvaMed CEO Stephen Ubl |
AdvaMed CEO Stephen Ubl is slated to become the next CEO of Big Pharma lobbying group PhRMA, multiple media outlets report. PhRMA says that a decision has not been made yet, but Politico reports that an official announcement could come as early as next week.
The move would be a step up for Ubl, in terms of both pay and prestige. Current PhRMA CEO John Castellani earned $3.6 million in 2013, compared to Ubl's $1.5 million, according to Politico. PhRMA spent $10.3 million on lobbying in the first half of 2015, compared to $1.4 million for AdvaMed.
Ubl's top priority as CEO of AdvaMed is repealing the 2.3% medical device excise tax enacted under the Affordable Care Act. Although he hasn't succeeded, the issue has gained prominence and was even up for negotiation during the 16-day government shutdown of October 2013.
Toward the latter half of his 10-year reign as AdvaMed CEO, Ubl has overseen a period of improved relations between the FDA and the device industry, though he continues to push for faster approval times and other industry-friendly actions.
The trade association is also lobbying against increasingly restrictive government and private insurance company reimbursement of medical technology. The trend is due to a growing emphasis on cost containment in the aftermath of the Great Recession and the Affordable Care Act. But Ubl has repeatedly argued that the device industry doesn't bear responsibility for healthcare inflation and has commissioned studies finding that the price of various implants has fallen in inflation-adjusted prices.
He won't be able to make an analogous argument as the next head of PhRMA. On the heels of Gilead's ($GILD) controversial decision to charge about $1,000 a day for its hep C drug, public outrage over drug prices has reached sky-high levels due to Turing Pharma CEO Martin Shkreli's recent decision to increase the price of a 60-plus-year-old anti-infective by 5000%.
Anger over Turing's and Gilead's decisions threaten a pricing system that has served Big Pharma pretty well and have put the industry in the election hot seat. Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton immediately responded to the Shkreli-induced outrage with a plan to cut the cost of medications.
Clearly, the next leader of PhRMA will take over at a crucial moment. Luckily for Big Pharma, Ubl is held in high regard. He's been a regular member of lists like The Hill newspaper's "The Hill's Top Lobbyists."
One of Ubl's achievements is the successful promotion of the FDA's plan to increase its regulation of the diagnostics industry, a strategy supported by AdvaMed member companies that manufacture testing equipment, but fiercely opposed by members of the American Clinical Laboratory Association, which run sample testing facilities.
In addition to grappling with anger over high drug prices, PhRMA (and AdvaMed) is engaged in intense lobbying over the 21st Century Cures Act, which would overhaul federal regulation of the device and pharma industries. It passed easily in the House but has yet to come up for a vote in the Senate.
Word of Ubl's impending departure comes just a few weeks before AdvaMed's annual conference of industry leaders, held to promote solidarity among all of its stakeholders and showcase med tech's importance.
- here's more from Politico