Some folks (here and there) have been pretty shocked by an interview with Billy Tauzin, CEO of PhRMA, the research-based drug-makers' trade association. In it, Mr. Tauzin suggests that his trade association would be happy to see President Obama expand health coverage through government power, instead of competition, because more people would be using prescription drugs.
The interviewer, MSNBC's Mike Huckman, simply cannot believe it. He asks for confirmation, more than once. Mr. Huckman seems to understand something that Mr. Tauzin has forgotten: government domination of health care leads to price controls - and drug-makers do not "make it up on volume", as I've discussed.
Pfizer CEO Jeff Kindler gave a similarly disturbing speech on February 9, in which he reported that "broad agreement is emerging on some basic principles," by which I suspect he means that Pfizer has polling data informing the company how to frame its image as an agent of change rather than an obstacle. Like most emerging broad agreements on principles, it reveals itself as internally contradictory under examination.
No matter: Mr. Kindler let it be known that Pfizer is now more at ease with government-run health care, because Britain's National Health Service had just approved reimbursement for Pfizer's Sutent to treat kidney cancer.
But perhaps Mr. Kindler spoke to soon: Earlier this week, the NHS decided that it would not pay for Sutent to treat a rare form of stomach cancer, which is terminal otherwise.
Not that I think this'll be enough to make Big Pharma jump off the ObamaCare express - but I hope they figure it out before the train picks up too much speed.
Research and commentary from a former senior executive in the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
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