00:00Senator Durbin. I'm sorry, Senator Shaheen, you were first. I apologize.
00:11That's okay. Thank you, Senator Durbin, and thank you, Chair Collins and Vice
00:15Chair Murray for holding this hearing, and thank you to all of our witnesses for your
00:19very eloquent and powerful and compelling testimony this morning. You know, I'm sorry
00:26that Senator Kennedy left the hearing because I thought he was effective in
00:32pointing out that all of us support biomedical research, that we all think
00:36it's important, but what I think he missed was we all also oppose waste, fraud, and
00:43abuse in these programs. We all also think that the example that he used from
00:49Stanford is one that we all believe should be cracked down on and that that
00:55should not happen in these programs, and so let's not be distracted by that
01:01because that's a red herring. The fact is that I wish we were as concerned about
01:08auditing the Department of Defense as we are about auditing these research grants.
01:14We probably be saving more money, and the reality is that what we're talking about
01:20in terms of this research doesn't save money, it costs money in the long run as
01:25all of you have pointed out so well. Now, Dr. Parikh, I thought you made a very, have
01:34made a very compelling case about our ability to compete with China, and while we focused
01:40on NIH and the FDA today in this hearing, other agencies, USAID, the CDC, our foreign assistance
01:51programs, have also helped form the foundation for global disease surveillance, for our public
01:56health preparedness, and for being able to address the kinds of diseases and cures that we want to
02:05talk about. So, I wonder if you could speak to how the cuts to U.S. foreign assistance, particularly in the global disease
02:15surveillance arena, undermine not just our ability to develop biomedical innovations, but also our national security,
02:23given the risk of drug-resistant diseases and undetected outbreaks that have in the past evolved into global threats.
02:31Thank you, Senator. Please, Dr. Parikh. Thank you, Senator.
02:35Infectious disease doesn't know international boundaries, and you know, something that's happening half a world away can be here in 12 hours.
02:42And so, we have to have the ability to understand what is circulating around the world, and that is a, it's a technological thing,
02:53it's a sociological thing, it is a relationship-based thing. You have to actually build relationships around the world.
03:00And so, you end up with this ability, you know, where there are laboratories in South Africa that can help you identify something,
03:07so that before it gets here, we have some idea of how to prepare. That is an extraordinary thing. It's not theoretical.
03:13It's happened in the past, and it will happen again. But it also, it has this, this element of, of soft power, of relationship building.
03:21There is nothing, there is nothing wrong with the idea that we're going to protect human beings from disease.
03:27In fact, it is the one thing that I think we all share in common. And so, when we as a country project that ability,
03:33when we increase that capacity around the world, we make a difference today in terms of those relationships,
03:41and tomorrow in terms of ensuring that we don't have epidemics that, that become real problematic in this country.
03:48Thank you. I, I agree. And sadly, what we've seen is a pullback in our foreign assistance programs in countries around the world.
03:59And we are now seeing China move in and taking over those programs in ways that not only affect our ability to get that information,
04:07but our national security. You know, I, I often think that if you can't get people to do something for the right reason,
04:15because it's the moral thing to do, sometimes you can get people to do something because it's cost effective to do that.
04:22And Dr. Esham, in New Hampshire, we have, we are developing a real biomedical industry in our state.
04:35That's important to local economies throughout the state.
04:39There are jobs that fuel our small towns and cities.
04:42They are partnering with institutions like Dartmouth and the University of New Hampshire on breakthroughs.
04:50And can you talk, I, I thought you were very effective in talking about the role of the FDA,
04:56but can you talk about what stability at the FDA and NIH means as we're looking at getting private investors
05:06to invest in growth around the country, certainly in our small towns in New Hampshire.
05:14Those private investments have been critical as we've looked at how to build this industry.
05:20Thank you for that question. And I want to say also congratulations.
05:23I have long been a supporter of the proliferation of things like biotechnology and the biopharmaceutical industry across the country.
05:30And it's very exciting to see what's going on in your state.
05:32It is.
05:33They're great jobs.
05:35It's a great community.
05:36I think, you know, the, it's in the title, right?
05:38It's the biomedical research ecosystem.
05:40And so you have foundational research that lead to, you know, help us understand the underlying foundational causes of disease.
05:47That leads us to understand about new targets, new endpoints, new ways to look at diseases,
05:52new ways to think about patient driven medicines.
05:56That is, and then that information and that knowledge is transferred into a clinical trial system where the biopharmaceutical company,
06:03and again, a lot of them are the small companies that you talk about in your state, are really taking that and doing the cutting edge research.
06:09In order for them, they are often pre-revenue.
06:12They do not have any money.
06:13They're not making anything on the market.
06:15They are on the edge of discovery of next generation medical interventions.
06:20And what they need is, is a ability to understand that the regulatory agency is capable, has the expertise required to evaluate on a scientifically based foundation,
06:33how to evaluate the safety and efficacies of these medicines.
06:36And they need to understand that they have the capacity to move things forward in a timely manner, even if it's a no.
06:43A timely no is better than a long limbo period.
06:47That has profound impacts on the private investment community.
06:52And money is global.
06:54And so I think we have to be realistic about that.
06:57So the stronger the FDA here is in the United States, the more we can keep building biotech hubs like in your state.
07:05Thank you all very much.
07:06I hope you feel like you heard a lot of support, bipartisan support on this committee for the work that you're doing.
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