(Bloomberg) — A group of major U.S. investors, spooked by the recent slump in biotech shares amid political bashing of drug prices, met with a lobbying group and executives last month to urge them to do a better job in defending their industry and take control of the conversation before lawmakers try to regulate prices.
Representatives from Fidelity Investments, T. Rowe Price Group Inc. and Wellington Management Co. — which all invest about a fifth or more of their U.S. stock holdings in health care — were among those at the meeting, held at a Boston hotel, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because the meeting wasn't public.
"Biotech lives and dies on investors being willing to put money at risk for long periods of time," said Ron Cohen, board chair of Biotechnology Innovation Organization, an industry group known as BIO, who attended the meeting. BIO is now mobilizing to take a more prominent stance on drug pricing, he said, fearing shareholders will flee the sector: "Ninety percent of companies fail, and investors are putting hundreds of millions of dollars over 10 to 15 years — they have to believe that if they win, they win big."
Cohen said officials from six or seven funds were present at the meeting, declining to identify them. Jim Greenwood, chief executive of Washington-based BIO, also attended. So did George Scangos, the chief executive of Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Biogen, according to the people.
Representatives for Fidelity, T. Rowe and Wellington declined to comment. A representative for Scangos at Biogen also declined to comment. Scangos is also chairman of the board of industry organization Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). A spokesman for PhRMA said he didn't attend on behalf of the organization.
Third Rock Ventures, a venture capital firm based in Boston, was invited and sent a representative to the meeting, according to spokesman Dan Budwick.
'Price gouging'
Investors are stepping up pressure on pharma lobbyists at a critical time for the industry as drug pricing has become a potent political issue on the presidential campaign trail and in Congress. Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton sent biotech stocks tumbling last year when she first talked about " price gouging," and Donald Trump has suggested that Medicare should negotiate with manufacturers. Drugmakers like Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. and Turing Pharmaceuticals AG, which boosted sales by buying old drugs and raising their prices, were lambasted during Congressional hearings.
While Valeant and Turing have been in the spotlight for excessive drug price increases, the rest of the industry has suffered equally from the criticism — and so did their shareholders. The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index has lost 34 percent since its peak last July, before the intense scrutiny from politicians began. By comparison, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost just 3.3 percent in the period.
Almost 27 percent of Wellington's U.S. stocks holding are health care shares, 21 percent at T. Rowe Price and 19 percent at Fidelity, according to data from December 2015 filings compiled by Bloomberg. The health care holdings include non-drug companies like hospitals and insurer shares.
At the meeting, the funds urged industry executives to take responsibility for educating the public about the value that medications bring to the health care system, according to one of the persons who attended the meeting. They also encouraged them to investigate innovative pricing models such as "pay for performance" contracts, in which insurers pay drugmakers based on how well the medication works, the person said.
Cohen, who's also chief executive officer of Acorda Therapeutics, said industry representatives suggested that the investors make their concerns known to policymakers.
