Yes, We Do Meaningful Work

Many perceive the pharmaceutical industry as financially self-serving and perhaps even “evil,” dominated by drugmakers who arbitrarily jack up prices of life-saving medicines or those who propagated the opioid crisis. The broadly applied and indiscriminate attribution of these negative connotations overshadows the research side of the coin, minimizing the valuable contributions of dedicated scientists and researchers, not to mention the millions of volunteers who participate in experimental research, all of whom believe in the importance of continuously producing medicines that improve our quality of life or even prolong it. After many years working in industry, I have been fortunate to work alongside so many talented and truly principled people and have come to appreciate how much effort and time it takes to bring a drug to market.

A 2020 study by Buxbaum et al. showed that the biopharmaceutical industry has had a significant impact in the improvement of life-expectancy in the US from 1990-2015, during which time it increased by 3.3 years. The authors noted that advances in HIV, breast cancer, and heart disease were big drivers in this decrease in mortality.

Despite how the drug industry is portrayed, it is important for all of us not to lose sight of the greater good, which comes from the many individuals with their myriad of contributions, who work together for a common goal.

Justin McLaughlin, CEO