Vertex Pharmaceuticals (MA)'s CEO Believes Obama's $215 Million Plan Would Mean Better New Drugs
February 2, 2015
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
BOSTON -- Jeffrey Leiden, Vertex Pharmaceuticals CEO, said President Barack Obama’s $215 million proposed Precision Medicine Initiative will spur the development of new medications that will change the lives of patients for the better.
In an interview with the Boston Business Journal, Leiden, who did not attend the Washington D.C. event, touted the proposal to create a national database of genetic, microbial and lifestyle information of over one million patients to learn how to individualize care. Leiden said the federal program will not cause new medications to be developed overnight, but said the initiative will have an end result of better medications within 10 to 15 years. While Leiden did not attend Friday’s ceremony, David Altshuler, head of research at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, represented the Cambridge, Mass.-based company that has developed medications for serious illnesses such as cystic fibrosis and hepatitis C. During his State of the Union Address, President Obama pointed out a guest of the first lady who is taking Vertex’s Kalydeco medication, the first drug designed to counter the genetic cause of the life-threatening illness. Kalydeco was approved in 2012 and is aimed at a “select few” of the genetic mutations that can cause cystic fibrosis. Such medications are at the heart of the proposed Precision Medicine Initiative, which will allow researchers to examine the cause of cancers and other illnesses on a genetic level in order to provide targeted therapies for individual care. Delving into disease at a genetic level will give researchers more confidence in developing those new medications, Leiden said.
When announcing the initiative he White House said most medical treatments take a “one-size-fits-all” approach that is not always effective in patients fighting various illnesses. Administration officials said personalized care will allow physicians to choose the right medication to target a genetic defect causing an illness, such as cystic fibrosis. Current cancer genome research, such as that conducted by The Cancer Genome Atlas, has provided greater understanding of the molecular changes that occur in many cancers. Such information is shaping the way those cancers are treated in individual patients.
“Precision medicine gives clinicians tools to better understand the complex mechanisms underlying a patient’s health, disease, or condition, and to better predict which treatments will be most effective,” the Obama administration said in a statement. “Patients with breast, lung, and colorectal cancers, as well as melanomas and leukemias, for instance, routinely undergo molecular testing as part of patient care, enabling physicians to select treatments that improve chances of survival and reduce exposure to adverse effects.”
Obama is seeking $215 million in his proposed budget to finance the initiative, which is being reported as a data collection of medical records, laboratory test results, dental records, diet and lifestyle information and genetic data. Obama is expected to present his budget proposal, which includes funding for the Precision Medicine Initiative, to the Republican-controlled Congress today. However the budget proposal is expected to raise discretionary spending $74 billion higher than current sequestration legislation allows. The president is seeking to get Congress to remove the spending cap levels.