Biotech’s public policy pillars are crumbling

The pace of biomedical advances over the past three decades has been stunning. The biotech industry’s explosive growth has brought society effective therapies for AIDS, many kinds of cancer, cystic fibrosis, hepatitis C, rare diseases, obesity and sickle cell disease, to name a few. Products based on ideas that seemed ludicrous or impossibly audacious 20 years ago — using mRNA to smuggle proteins into human cells, editing genomes, harnessing the body’s immune system to combat cancer — are being integrated into routine care.

The buzz around Kendall Square and Sand Hill Road, the hundreds of billions of dollars NIH has invested in basic research, and FDA’s reputation as the “gold standard” for drug regulation all underscore U.S. leadership. ...