Crossing The Floor: Ex-PhRMA And BIO Exec Murphy Moves To Head Up AAM

Almost two years after the Association for Accessible Medicines said goodbye to its previous permanent president and CEO, the US generics and biosimilars industry body has now named a replacement – and it has looked across the aisle to the originator sector for new leadership.

John Murphy, most recently chief policy officer at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) – and previously assistant general counsel at the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), as well as earlier serving at law firm Hogan Lovells – has been appointed as president and CEO of the off-patent body and “will join AAM in October,” the association confirmed.

The appointment signals the end of a long search for a permanent AAM leader, after the group’s former president and CEO Dan Leonard stepped down suddenly in late 2022. (Also see "Leonard Resignation Leaves AAM Looking For New Leadership" - Generics Bulletin, 6 Dec, 2022.) Subsequent indications were that Leonard’s “hands-off” style of management was not a good fit for the association. (Also see "A Bad Fit: Dan Leonard’s Leadership Style Did Not Translate At AAM" - Generics Bulletin, 17 Jan, 2023.)

John Murphy - AAM

In the meantime, the AAM has been led by David Gaugh as interim president and CEO.

He has overseen a tumultuous period for the association that has included a change in chair, with Sandoz’s North America chief Keren Haruvi late last year replacing Christine Baeder as she departed Teva for Apotex. (Also see "US Generics Industry Group Gets New Board Chair, Begins Search For New CEO In Earnest" - Generics Bulletin, 11 Dec, 2023.)

Earlier in the year the AAM had also waved goodbye to multiple top executives as part of budget cuts to streamline the organization. (Also see "AAM Departures Lead To Change Of Chair For IGBA" - Generics Bulletin, 20 Mar, 2023.)

As Murphy takes the reins, Gaugh is expected to return to his previous position as executive vice-president of sciences and regulatory affairs.

Murphy’s appointment is not the first time that the AAM has looked to brand industry associations for leadership candidates. Leonard’s predecessor Chip Davis had been executive vice president for advocacy and member relations at PhRMA before joining the AAM as chief in 2015. He left the position in early 2020 in favor of a job heading up the US Healthcare Distribution Alliance. (Also see "Davis Steps Down As AAM’s Chief" - Generics Bulletin, 12 Feb, 2020.)

“This critical industry is at risk and is taken for granted by policymakers and the healthcare system in general.”

Welcoming Murphy to his new position, Haruvi said his “decades-long experience in policy, advocacy, and communications on drugs and biologics makes him the right person to lead our industry’s efforts to advocate for policies to increase patient access to lower-cost generic and biosimilar medicines.”

“We are confident that John will lead the association’s talented team to support our work with Congress and the Administration to ensure that the generic and biosimilar industries remain sustainable and patient access to affordable medicine is prioritized,” Haruvi added, also thanking Gaugh “for his leadership guiding AAM during our search for a CEO.”

In his first comments after the appointment was revealed, Murphy underlined his commitment to the off-patent sector. “The generic and biosimilars industry provides over 90% of prescribed medicines, is the backbone of access for many patients, and the key component to addressing health care costs in the US,” he observed. “But this critical industry is at risk and is taken for granted by policymakers and the healthcare system in general.”

“I look forward to helping amplify the voice and reach of this industry in Washington,” Murphy pledged, “as we work hard to ensure affordable medicines remain the critical connector of healthcare and patient health in the US.”

Speaking with Generics Bulletin sister publication Pink Sheet shortly afterwards, Murphy addressed his roots in the brand industry sector (see sidebar).

“We have a lot of common objectives in Washington and policymaking if you look at the sort of broader narrative surrounding how drugs are paid for and how patients access them,” he said. “There’s a good deal of overlap in those advocacy positions.”

Moreover, he said he was “very optimistic that I can maintain a very open and transactional working relationship with all of the colleagues and friends I’ve developed on the brand side over the years.” And while “we are likely to have disagreements over specific aspects of certain policies,” he acknowledged, “at the end of the day, everyone in this industry is working towards getting patients healthy.”

“One of the things we want to do working with this team on day one is to really force multiply and amplify the voices talking to Congress and the states about the current state of the generics and biosimilars medicines industry in the US and the problems that we really need to work very hard to address,” Murphy said. “My goal I think initially is to really start to get out there and be a very loud voice for the value and importance of this industry to the US health care system.”

“Washington and drug pricing policy, it’s not a magic formula,” he added. “Really it’s about bringing constructive dialogue and amplifying those voices across the hosts of constituencies to really drive that policy change.”

Appointment Comes As Hatch-Waxman Turns 40

News of Murphy’s appointment comes as the US off-patent industry this week celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Hatch-Waxman framework that underpins the country’s generics market.

Noting that Hatch-Waxman had “ushered in trillions in savings for patients and the entire heath care ecosystem,” Gaugh underlined that “the competition provided by this law was a success as over 90% of all prescriptions today are generics or biosimilars yet only 13% of total drug spending.”

However, he warned, “over the years, Hatch-Waxman is being chipped away and now more than ever we need action from our regulators and legislators to protect patient access to lower-cost drugs for the next 40 years and beyond.”

Gaugh’s comments echo the findings of the latest AAM savings report, which reflected off-patent medicines savings of more than $3tn over the past decade – and $445bn in 2023 alone (see sidebar) – but amid a context where Gaugh said that “anti-competitive behavior and the suppression of generic medicines” were continuing threats.

Meanwhile, Craig Burton, executive director of the AAM’s Biosimilars Council, said that while Hatch-Waxman had enabled trillions of dollars in savings, it was “now sorely in need of updates to keep up with the ever changing landscape, especially with respect to the incredible potential of biosimilars, which did not exist 40 years ago.”

“Patent thickets, attacks on skinny-labeling, PBM pricing schemes, misuse of generic tiers for Medicare patients are just a few of the many issues facing our industry and getting in the way of lower-cost medicines reaching patients,” Burton cautioned.