Astellas recognizes the crucial role that patient groups play in enhancing and extending the lives of patients. Sponsoring events such as the BIO Patient and Health Advocacy Summit to be held on November 3-4 is a way the Astellas Stakeholder Engagement team is supporting that goal. Astellas’ Stakeholder Engagement team is focused on collaborating with patient advocacy groups with the aim to: build and strengthen relationships with stakeholders and influential thought leaders elevate the patient voice within Astellas to ensure patient-centric decision making, and galvanize collective action among stakeholders to improve patient outcomes, address access challenges, and develop resources for unmet needs.This approach is in line with the Astellas Way, a set of values that Astellas employees share, which focuses on patients first, ownership, results, openness and integrity.By supporting patient advocacy groups and organizations that advocate for improved patient care, Astellas works to strengthen the power patients have to influence positive changes in healthcare. In all of the support and funding Astellas provides, we work diligently to maintain the highest levels of transparency and integrity.Our Stakeholder Engagement team has developed several programs to help facilitate dialogue about the patient journey and connect advocates across various therapeutic areas: The Patient Advocates Advisory Committee serves as a confidential sounding board for seeking and evaluating patient feedback regarding healthcare needs and services, strengthening Astellas’ ability to meet the needs of patients. Astellas’ annual Patient Advocacy Summit gathers more than 100 of the most influential names in patient advocacy, healthcare and Astellas leaders to discuss the most prevalent issues related to medical innovation and patient access to quality care in the US and Canada. Changing Tomorrow Together, an interactive website, stimulates dialogue and creates opportunities…

Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) President and CEO Jim Greenwood issued the following statement in response to President Trump’s FY 2018 budget proposal.

Mayor Faulconer, Industry Leaders Reveal Latest Data, Including Major Economic Benefits of June BIO 2017 Convention

Washington, DC (May 17, 2017) – Today, the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) joins with a diverse coalition of stakeholders in endorsing a set of pro-competition, free-market-oriented solutions to lower healthcare costs while increasing patient access and choice to the medicines they need. The proposals, “Prescriptions for Competition, Value and Innovation,” were released by the Council for Affordable Health Coverage (CAHC), of which BIO is a member. The CAHC is a diverse coalition of healthcare stakeholders, including patient and consumer advocacy groups, employers, insurers, pharmacy benefit managers, and biopharmaceutical companies.The proposed solutions focus on five different areas: Increasing Competition: Bringing more generic and branded drugs to the market will increase competition, driving down costs and improving patient and provider choice. Rewarding Value: Reward improved health outcomes and help to lower costs by reforming legal and regulatory barriers that impede private sector value-based contracting for prescription drugs based on outcomes in care. Improving Data Infrastructure and Use: Improving data infrastructure and utilization will increase transparency and improve quality of care, while lowering costs and allowing for more widespread and efficient value and outcomes-based reimbursement contracts. Empowering Consumers: Providing consumers with relevant, easily understood information about their drug choices, including information on their cost-sharing obligations. Preserving What Works: Reject proposals that would undermine functioning markets and the thriving biopharmaceutical innovation ecosystem, or jeopardize patient access or safety.“Last year, BIO released a set of Principles on the Value of Biopharmaceuticals, the first-ever systemic, industry-endorsed set of commitments by research-based biopharmaceutical companies to support comprehensive and sustainable solutions to improve patient access to and affordability of…

BIO submitted comments to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Regulatory Reform Task Force on Executive Order 13777 “Enforcing the Regulatory Reform Agenda.”

Termeer was a key architect in the founding of BIO, a mentor to countless entrepreneurs, executives and researchers, and passionate in his pursuit of innovative patient-centric drug development. Washington, DC (May 15, 2017) – Henri Termeer, who passed away at the age of 71, was a founding father of modern biotechnology. He brought to his work, and to his life, a passion, a vision and a perseverance to bring ground-breaking medical innovations to those suffering from rare diseases.Through his work, Termeer became a mentor and a role model for biotechnology entrepreneurs around the globe. The culture he created at Genzyme, and at the various institutions he worked for throughout his career, was widely seen as the gold standard for patient-focused drug development. He was a master at creating cultures where great science and great people could flourish.  As the Boston Globe aptly noted, Termeer had “magnetism and warmth, and a deft ability to harness top talent toward a common goal.”Termeer, who was a larger-than-life figure across the biotechnology field, was instrumental in the founding of BIO in 1993, serving as its first vice chair for health.He was named Chairman of the organization in 1996. During his tenure as Chair of BIO, and in the years that followed, Termeer was a key catalyst in the growth of the organization and in establishing BIO’s position at the forefront of key policy and regulatory debates. He was an active member of BIO’s Board of Directors since its founding until his death, with only a short break in his tenure. Termeer served on BIO’s Executive Committee from 1993 to 2000.Following are statements from leadership at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO):“Few people in our industry have had as profound an impact as Henri Termeer on the science of biotechnology and the patients who depend on it,” said Jim Greenwood, President and CEO of BIO. “He had a unique ability to inspire the men and women around him. Henri certainly…

Washington, D.C. (May 12, 2017) – The Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) issued the following statement regarding initial results of the 100-Day Action Plan of the U.S.-China Comprehensive Economic Dialogue:

Bio-based Technologies Address Human, Animal, Plant and Environmental Health Washington, D.C. (May 11, 2017) – At its heart, the concept of One Health is rooted in the notion that the health of humans, animals, and the environment are all interconnected. At BIO’s 2017 International Convention (June 19-22 in San Diego), programming will feature the One Health concept through stories that show how science and technology are making tomorrow’s breakthroughs possible.