I’m sorry I’ve become too used to working in the pharma industry, where calendars fill up with unnecessary meetings when an email would do fine. As a consultant, I’m used to having a LOT of meetings to review research findings and actionable insights, but the industry’s culture is one of its most significant weaknesses. This is an edited email I received from someone I met in Cambridge. Amy has an MBA from MIT with a minor in pre-med. It shows an industry in deep trouble.

BIO and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America continue to push their big lie that having the government negotiate prices for medicare will continue to hurt investment even though 83% of the public say they favor allowing the federal government to negotiate with drug companies to lower drug prices on behalf of people enrolled in Medicare. It’s part of PhRMA’s big lie used to buy politicians.

Sometimes things happen that are beyond human decency. When these things happen and it causes others to lose their lives, we must learn to act to punish those responsible and ensure it never happens again. For more than two years, the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis has been investigating the federal government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic to ensure the American people receive a full accounting of what went wrong and to determine what corrective steps are necessary to ensure our nation is better prepared for any future public health crisis.