Greetings from the 53rd annual PhRMA Annual Meeting in jaunty Jersey City. No beach. No golf. No swag. Just a lot of content.
Some samplers from the Pharmitzvah bima:
PhRMA Chairman (and sanofi-aventis chief) Chris Viehbacher, “As I was walking up to the podium, I was asked if I needed anything. I said, how about a President and Congress that understands the need for a research-based pharmaceutical industry.”
Quite germane and timely considering President Obama’s speech on Wednesday. (For more on that speech see here).
Viehbacher teed-up the meeting by calling on all present to embrace “the three t’s” of truth, trust and transparency. He also mentioned that, alas, there is not (at least as of yet) “a billing code for prevention.” Amen Brother Chris.
Later on we heard a pretty dynamic speech from Governor Chris Christie who insisted that he is (and we should all be) about “results over politics.” Amen Brother Chris.
Governor Christie was followed by our 42nd President, William Jefferson Clinton, who came on stage saying that he wanted to say something nice about the Governor, “but didn’t want to ruin his (Christie’s) reputation.” He then proceeded to give a rambling (by which I mean, charitably, eclectic) speech. Whatever he was paid it was too much -- unless he was paid by the word.
The luncheon speaker was Mike Krzyzewski (“Coach K”) who gave a very stirring and emotional talk, largely about his experience coaching the Olympic and World Championships basketball teams. His philosophy of “standards not rules” resonated. (And his jibes about Kobe Bryant – who reneged on a promise to attend Duke after high school – were priceless.)
John Castellani, now eight months into his job as PhRMA President, captured the frustration of the crowd when, in commenting on the current political environment, quoted Oscar Wilde -- “A cynic knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing.” Nuff said.
Amen Brother John.
