Has biopharma has earned its ire?

Biopharma’s bad rap is somewhat deserved, according to a trio of CEOs speaking at the STAT Summit. And that’s in no small part due to drug pricing decisions, according to Bluebird Bio CEO Nick Leschly. “Unfortunately, I think the industry has earned it,” he said. “I think there has been and continues to be bad behaviors.”

Those include “egregious profit-making” in the case of some blockbuster biologics, Leschly said. Sage Therapeutics CEO Jeff Jonas concurred, saying the industry hasn’t done much to resuscitate its floundering reputation.

“We’ve allowed this incorrect narrative to be propagated, which is the idea that between bench and bedside, there’s only paperwork — that somehow someone makes a discover. And a couple of days later, you have a drug,” he said. “That’s bad for us.”