Making the jump from biotech to politics may not seem like a typical career progression. So, what is driving these executives into politics?
In February, Bob Hugin, former CEO of Celgene, announced his run for the U.S. Senate to represent New Jersey. After winning the Republican primary to become the party’s candidate, he now faces incumbent Democratic Senator Robert Menendez in the upcoming November election.
Hugin is not the only ex-biotech executive-turned-politician. Alex Azar, currently the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, was the former president of Lilly USA, LLC, the largest division of Eli Lilly and Company.
Making the jump from biotech to politics may not seem like a typical career progression. So, what is driving these executives into politics?
Drug Pricing
People tend to run for office because they feel strongly about certain issues. When thinking about the biotech and pharmaceutical industries, the first issue to come to mind is drug pricing.
Drug pricing tends to be intimately political, whether we want it to be or not. It is a common issue on which candidates define their stance, and access to affordable healthcare is a top voter concern.
Not surprisingly, the campaign between Hugin and Menendez has become a ‘referendum on drug prices.’ Hugin cites his biotech experience as a leg up for him as an advocate for health care reform, stating on his website that he will “promote policies that incentivize bold experimentation and innovation that can find cures and lower costs.”
However, Hugin has come under fire for multiple price increases of Celgene’s top medication Revlimid, a cancer drug, while he was leading the company. In fact, its price was increased three times in 2017, resulting in an almost 20 percent cost increase from 2016 to 2017.
Hugin defended Revlimid’s price increases, citing its increased value as it was approved for use in more patients than originally intended. He told STAT News, “More than 90 percent of the patients that ever took a Celgene cancer drug paid $50 or less per month in copay. And the company invested more than 40 percent of its revenue into R&D, because it’s not good enough where we are in cancer, even though we’ve made good strides.”
Azar even seemed to call out Celgene’s drug price increases, without naming the company outright, in his remarks about President Donald Trump’s drug pricing blueprint in May: “For example, the company that makes one of the 10 most common drugs in [the protected Medicare Part D categories] raised that drug’s price 20 percent in the last 12 months. That particular drug, in 2015, cost $11,500 per month. Under Medicare Part D, that means seniors using the drug will typically owe an extra $115 every month. They just went from paying $575 per month to $690 per month, at a time when the average Social Security check is $1,400.”
Despite Azar’s pharma background, he seems to be adamant about making drugs more affordable. “Drug companies have insisted we can have new cures or affordable prices, but not both,” he said in the same remarks. “I’ve been a drug company executive—I know the tired talking points. I’m not interested in hearing those talking points anymore, and neither is the President.”
Azar supporters highlight his pharma experience as an ‘advantage in figuring out how to make drugs more affordable,’ although critics are still skeptical of whether actions will actually be implemented to lower drug prices. Some even note the three-fold price increase of insulin during his 10 years at Lilly.
Other Motivations
Drug pricing and healthcare issues don’t seem to be the only motivating factor driving Hugin to run for office. He states his stances on a variety of issues on his website, including his support of LGBTQ rights, protecting the environment, securing the border and immigration reform. Hugin also draws heavily from his military experience, where he served 14 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, and education background, as the first person in his family to attend college, as inspiration for his viewpoints.
Azar began his career in law before becoming the general counsel and eventually deputy secretary at HHS under President George W. Bush. It was only after his time at HHS that he transitioned into the biopharma industry with Eli Lilly and Company. His motivations seem to be based on drug pricing and healthcare issues as his four main priorities are decreasing drug cost, making health insurance affordable, focusing Medicare payments on quality and confronting the opioid addiction epidemic.
With the intertwined nature of drug pricing and politics, it may not be surprising to see more biopharma execs leave their post in pursuit of holding office and impacting healthcare policy.
