Survey: 8 in 10 California CEOs blame FDA for slowing growth

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January 10, 2012 by MassDevice staff

Burdensome FDA process seen as one of the biggest threats to the biomedical industries growth, according to a survey of biomedical CEOs in the Golden State, conducted by the California Healthcare Institute, BayBio and PwC.

Biomedical CEOs in California continue to see a burdensome FDA regulatory environment as a major hinderance to the industries growth, according to preliminary results of a CEO survey conducted by the California Healthcare Institute, BayBio and PwC.

In a preview of a broader survey to be released in February, 8 in 10 CEOs said that the current FDA regulatory approval process "has slowed the growth of their organization" and is among one of the biggest threats to the growth of the med-tech sector in the U.S.

Three-quarters of the CEOs surveyed said that the United States' leadership position in the biomedical world was in jeopardy due to the cumbersome FDA process and that within five years,"another country could conceivably recreate the ecosystem that has made the U.S. the leading biomedical region in the world," according to a prepared release.

The annual survey is billed as a bellwether for the health of the industry as it represents the largest biomedical market in the United States.

Other findings included:

74% of respondents said their companies have had to delay research & development projects over the past year, with 40% blaming a lack of funding for the delays
30% said they would seek corporate venture capital for funding, a 3 fold increase from the previous year.
60% said tax incentives for innovation was the most important public policy on a state level, while 51% pointed to tax reforms
The preliminary results were released at the JP Morgan Healthcare conference in San Francisco.