Thomas K. Equals. President and CEO Hemispherx Biopharma:
"Critical to our nation’s progress as a leader in drug development is aggressively addressing serious diseases with unmet medical needs, i.e., diseases with no approved treatments. It will 1) advance public health, 2) reduce the cost to the nation due to the disease burden, and 3) support the pharmaceutical industry to work on these diseases—and funding should be commensurate with the disease burden.
For example, myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) affects approximately one million people in the U.S. In the most severe cases, the people are totally disabled. The estimated cost to our nation, per the CDC, is approximately $22 billion a year in healthcare costs and lost productivity. ME/CFS has no approved therapy in the U.S. We just obtained the first approval in Argentina for our therapeutic Ampligen as a treatment for ME/CFS.
We need the U.S. to break through bureaucratic quagmires and work with us toward a rapid approval. Why? Billions in social costs are saved. Thousands of totally disabled people have an opportunity to recover and return to work. Finally, Ampligen production in the U.S. will mean more than 1,000 high-paying new jobs in biopharma manufacturing, labs, and clinics. Making America Great is all about exactly this type of focus and innovation. We must continue to be a leader in all industries and we cannot ignore the biotech sector by regulating it out of business."
