Council for American Medical Innovation

“Over the long run, few issues are as important to a nation’s long-term economic security and global standing as being a leader in moving life sciences forward.”
– Lawrence Summers, Director of the National Economic Council

Medical innovation brings enormous economic benefits. Biopharmaceutical research companies directly employ 686,000 people in the United States and generate millions of jobs in other industries (2.5 million in 2006). These employees are valuable members of their local communities – supporting local businesses and infrastructure, contributing taxes and boosting economies. 

American leadership in medical innovation must be a key element of our economic recovery planning. Investments in medical innovation makes a real difference to employees, researchers and patients alike. The health care industry is one of our fastest-growing, and is expected to generate 3 million new jobs between 2006 and 2016, more than any other industry.

• Investments in strong businesses will secure our future.
• Protecting intellectual property will foster creativity and discovery.

A Healthy Workforce

Patients who benefit from new treatments use fewer sick days and are more productive when they’re at work – benefiting patients, their families and employers alike. Keeping America’s workforce healthy helps us stay competitive internationally.

• Migraine Medicine: A study evaluating the effect of migraine treatment on productivity found that more than 50% of workers who received a triptan drug injection for a migraine attack returned to work within two hours, compared with 9% of workers who received a placebo.
• Allergy Medicine:  A study in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine found that patients taking a non-sedating antihistamine for allergies experienced a 5.2% increase in daily work output in the three days after receiving the medication, compared with a 7.8% reduction in work output for workers receiving sedating antihistamines.
• Medicines for Depression: The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) says that “if every American with depression received care from a health plan or provider that was performing at the 90th percentile level, employers would recover up to 8.8 million absentee days a year.” NCQA also reported that only 40.1% of patients with depression “received effective continuation phase treatment.”