Sept 29 (Reuters) – The top US pharmaceutical lobby group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America said on Tuesday it had named former US House Majority Leader Eric Cantor as its next president and CEO, as drugmakers face pressure to lower prices.
Cantor, a Virginia Republican who served in the US House of Representatives from 2000 to 2014, will take over on November 9, PhRMA said.
In recent years, the industry has faced efforts by both parties to cut US prices, including Republican President Donald Trump’s efforts to establish most-favored-nation pricing for Americans. Cantor will also need to respond to attempts to regulate investment in Chinese biotechnology and the use of AI in life sciences.
He succeeds Stephen J. Ubl, who has led the organization since 2015, when the Biden administration passed the Inflation Reduction Act. That act allowed the government to negotiate prices for top-selling drugs in its Medicare insurance program for older Americans for the first time.
PhRMA credited Cantor with backing the Medicare Part D prescription drug program, rare pediatric disease research funding and the 21st Century Cures Act during his time in Congress.
Rob Davis, PhRMA’s board chair and CEO of Merck, said in a statement that Cantor had experience in business, policy and politics.
Ubl will remain as a strategic adviser until mid-January to assist with the transition.
(Reporting by Kamal Choudhury in Bengaluru and Michael Erman in New Jersey; Editing by Tasim Zahid and Rod Nickel)
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