Publications: Sandra Barbosu

The White House’s AI Action Plan highlights how upgrading labs, data infrastructure, and research models is essential to unlock AI’s full potential in accelerating drug discovery and keeping the United States at the forefront of biopharmaceutical innovation.

Obesity affects over 42 percent of U.S. adults, costing the nation more than $400 billion annually. Traditional weight-loss methods alone have proved to be insufficient in addressing this growing public health burden. But GLP-1 receptor agonists now offer the potential to profoundly transform obesity care. Public policies should support their wider adoption.

A cornerstone of U.S. biopharmaceutical leadership, PDUFA has dramatically accelerated drug approvals and patient access, but looming FDA budget cuts threaten to unravel three decades of progress.

Microgravity could be the next big breakthrough in drug development, but only if policymakers act now to turn space-based research from potential into progress.

The United States shoulders the cost of global drug innovation—unless wealthy nations pay their fair share, future cures will stall.

To stay ahead in biopharma and ensure new therapies work for everyone, the U.S. must fix the diversity gap in biomedical research.

Follow-on biopharmaceutical innovations deliver substantial health and economic benefits by improving the safety and efficacy of existing therapies, addressing unmet patient needs, expanding therapeutic applications, and enhancing adherence. Supportive policies are essential to sustain progress and ensure broad access to these medical advances.

Recent policies permitting CMS price setting are hamstringing the U.S. biopharmaceutical industry, as they reduce incentives for pharmaceutical companies to invest in future drug R&D to create life-improving and life-saving medicines.

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) undermines innovation in small-molecule drugs by subjecting them to price controls after 9 years, whereas large-molecule drugs (biologics) are allowed 13 years of market pricing. Congress should pass the bipartisan EPIC Act to remedy this issue.

Cutting federal life sciences funding threatens U.S. biopharmaceutical innovation, while China is ramping up investment to dominate the industry.