Lilly chief makes case for US Pharma; "don't stifle innovation via reforms"

US federal policymakers' attention to access, quality and costs in health reform should also include a focus on innovation - or the results  could include "unintended side effects," John Lechleiter, chief  executive of drug major Eli Lilly, warned delegates attending a Chamber  of Commerce meeting, as part of its National Foundation CEO Leadership  series.

Innovation, he said, helped boost the average American's life  expectancy from 47 years to 78, a rise of 66% over the past century and  "unprecedented in human history." In his keynote speech before a group  of business, government and health care representatives, Mr Lechleiter  identified specific policy proposals and their implications for  patients and for developing breakthrough treatments and cures.  "Encouraging innovation needs to be the purpose of US health care  reform, not its victim. It's innovation that explains why we are the  healthiest, longest-lived and wealthiest human beings ever to occupy  the planet," he argued.

However, he asserted, if heath care reform does not encourage  innovation, "then the important goals of expanding access, improving  quality and controlling costs will prove illusory." He cited a Columbia  University study that analyzed data from 52 countries and showed that,  controlling for other factors, the availability of new medicines alone  accounted for 40% of the increase in life expectancy during the 1980s  and 1990s.