It was a busy day in Boston yesterday as BIO President & CEO John F. Crowley addressed the MassBio’s State of Possible Conference, and Board Chair Dr. Ted Love was honored by STAT News.
Excerpts from John F. Crowley’s remarks as prepared for delivery:
The power of storytelling: “A key priority of mine at BIO and for the industry is ensuring that patients are at the center of everything we do. And we need to tell stories! For years, I have used the stories of patients, including that of my own family, to humanize the power of biotechnology to improve lives.”
Boston: Crowley recalled Henri Termeer, the former CEO of Genzyme who was honored at the conference earlier in the day, as “an amazing leader who believed in the importance of advancing novel medicines to improve people’s lives – especially children. In fact, I’ll never forget when he turned to a room full of Pompe patients, including my kids, and promised that he would use ‘every fiber of his being’ to make their lives better.”
BIO priorities: “I view biotech as a national security imperative.” Also: “restoring incentives to develop orphan drugs, reforming pharmacy benefit managers, fighting efforts to curb intellectual property rights, and increasing patient access through broader out-of-pocket caps.”
What’s next for biotech: “There is nothing in the laws of nature that says we cannot cure any disease or overcome any obstacle. There are only the limits of what we are willing to pursue as a society.”
Read the full speech as prepared for delivery.
Meanwhile, at STAT’S STATUS LIST awards dinner in Boston, Dr. Love was honored as one of “50 influential people shaping the future of health and life sciences.” Other BIO members recognized include Susan Galbraith (AstraZeneca); Matt Gline (Roivant); Reshma Kewalramani (Vertex); Lotte Knudsen (Novo Nordisk); Daniel Skrvronsky (Eli Lilly); Chris Viehbacher (Biogen).
