Gehpardt: U.S. Innovators In Dire Need Of Investors.

John DuBois, University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

Although the U.S. is a leader in medical science and technology, it is being outpaced by competing countries like India and China. That is the opinion of former Democratic house leader Richard Gehpardt who led a paneled discussion today in Washington, D.C. on medical innovation, venture capitalism and patient treatment.

Gephardt is the chairman of the council for medical innovation. “The future of medical innovation in the U.S. is directly tied to our ability to encourage American Businesses to invest in science and technology and take important risks,” he said.

Gephardt said CAMI is working toward a national policy agenda for preserving U.S. leader status in medical innovation. The agenda includes increasing incentives for investment in research development, increasing investment in the life sciences and ensuring that the U.S. maintains a highly skilled and trained workforce.

American innovators face significant barriers to success, Gehpardt said. Those barriers include: “A lack of adequate capital to see their ideas through from start to finish; a prolonged and expensive regulatory pathway for new medicines, bilogics and devices (and a lack of adequate incentives to enter the market and compete,” he said. ” The key to U.S. economic recovery and jobs, as well as promoting the health of our citizens, is innovation and we must not only invest more resources here, but also create a legal and regulatory environment that includes strong incentives and allows medical innovation to thrive.”