Transcript:

Meet some of the biotech innovators developing novel medicines to transform the lives of the millions of Americans suffering with autoimmune diseases.

Over 45 million Americans—about one in seven people, including children—suffer from an autoimmune disease. Their immune system turns on them, damaging tissues and organs. These diseases can affect nearly every part of the body, leading to chronic pain, inflammation, and organ damage.

But there is hope.

Many small biotechs, including mine, are working on remarkable new technologies that we hope will someday allow us to better treat and even cure autoimmune diseases. And there’s a good chance you’re helping us. Here’s how: If you are saving for retirement, as millions of working Americans are, there’s a good chance that some of your savings is invested in biotechnology and maybe even indirectly in my company. So thank you.

I know my investors are investing for their financial security and hope my product will someday be profitable. I hope so too. But profitable doesn’t mean unaffordable, thanks to insurance. Insurance is possible because you—and most Americans—pay premiums. Our premiums make it possible for novel medicines to be both profitable and affordable. Only 8% of what we pay each month in insurance premiums goes toward novel branded medicines, creating the incentives for investment in work like ours. So thank you, and thanks to everyone who makes that possible.

But insurance in America doesn’t always do what it promises. Some patients can’t afford their medicines because of unaffordably high out-of-pocket costs. Congress is talking about capping those costs, which is the right idea. We certainly aren’t inventing new medicines for anyone to be denied access to them. Unfortunately, some people, including some members of Congress, think that the way to help patients afford treatment is by letting the government control the prices of novel medicines. The problem is that price controls drive investors away. That’s the case not only in biotechnology, but in any industry. If the reward for successfully developing a medicine is a government price control, I know my investors will invest elsewhere. I can’t blame them. They’re looking out for their hard-earned savings.

And price controls on novel medicines won’t even save America money because what’s special about medicines is that they go generic. Novel medicines are branded until their patents expire. After that, they drop in price and cost Americans very little, yet they still keep us healthy and out of hospitals. If we stop investing in the pursuit of cures for autoimmune disorders, we will be stuck having to manage these diseases with hospitals—and those costs only climb. Hospitals never go generic. If we stop investing, millions of Americans will go on suffering, missing work, relying on caregivers, and losing precious time with loved ones. And our insurance premiums, which largely go to pay for hospitals and seeing doctors, will continue to climb.

So let’s hope that Congress does not resort to price controls that turn investors away from research like ours, but instead caps out-of-pocket costs for patients. Insurance reform is the solution that will allow all of us—by investing, paying premiums, and doing science—to create new, affordable medicines together.

So again, thank you. Thank you for your support, for helping to make breakthroughs by companies like ours possible. Thank you for helping us strive to bring new treatments to people who desperately need them. Thank you for being part of this massive team effort to build a healthier, happier, more productive future. And every time you check your retirement account or see that insurance deduction on your paycheck, we hope you don’t just see numbers, but the promise of scientific progress. We hope you’ll see the brighter, healthier future that you are helping to build.

So again, thank you.