Biotech and the Budget: Jim Greenwood on CNBC

As budget talks aimed at raising the federal debt ceiling move to the presidential level this week, CNBC came to the 2011 BIO International Convention to interview BIO President and CEO Jim Greenwood about the role biotech can play in lowering the U.S. budget deficit.

“There are 10,000 baby boomers entering Medicare every day. What if fewer of them were sick? What if fewer of them had cardiovascular disease and cancer and Alzheimer's and diabetes?” Greenwood asked. “That would drive down the cost of Medicare astronomically. If you could delay the onset of Alzheimer's by five years, you'd save Medicare $50 billion a year. That's what biotechnology companies do.”