Eric Cantor, former House leader, named PhRMA president and CEO
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Former Rep. Eric Cantor speaks during a portrait unveiling ceremony for Kevin McCarthy at the U.S. Capitol on Sept. 15. Photo: Heather Diehl/Getty Images
Eric Cantor, a former House Republican leader who is among the most seasoned navigators of official Washington, on Tuesday was named president and CEO of PhRMA, the voice of the pharmaceutical industry, effective Nov. 9.
Why it matters: Cantor, 63, becomes the public face of an industry that's at the forefront of American innovation in the AI age but will face rising scrutiny if, as expected, Democrats take the House in November's midterms.
Cantor succeeds Steve Ubl, who announced in April that he planned to step down after 11 years at the helm of PhRMA, one of the nation's most powerful lobbying groups.
- Cantor is a Republican who represented the Richmond, Virginia, area in Congress and later became a big Wall Street player.
What they're saying: PhRMA said in its announcement that Cantor brings "decades of experience at the intersection of business and public policy to lead the organization at a pivotal moment for America's biopharmaceutical industry."
- Merck CEO Rob Davis, chair of PhRMA's board, said: "Eric is well respected among policy leaders in Washington and around the world, with a long track record of working effectively across the political spectrum to achieve important outcomes that have a lasting impact."
What we're watching: The pharmaceutical industry faces bipartisan scrutiny over how drug companies are contributing to the health affordability crisis. Polls show overwhelming majorities of Americans think current prescription drug prices are unreasonable, and blame drugmakers' pricing practices.
- If Democrats win power on Nov. 3, they intend to scrutinize pharma companies' confidential pricing deals with the White House, saying there's nothing showing that they're delivering the lowest prices to U.S. consumers.
The backstory: Cantor represented Virginia in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2000 to 2014, and was House majority leader from 2011 to 2014.
- Since leaving Congress, Cantor has been vice chair and managing director at investment bank Moelis & Company. He's a frequent guest on CNBC's "Squawk Box."
- Cantor said: "The American biopharmaceutical industry leads the world. PhRMA's member companies operate at the cutting edge of science and technology, seeking novel treatments and cures for both chronic and rare diseases."
PhRMA's announcement said that in his time in Congress, he "led the bipartisan enactment of the Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act, which prioritized federal support for pediatric disease research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and was instrumental in building support for legislation that established Medicare Part D, expanding access to drug coverage for seniors and people with disabilities."
- "He also laid the groundwork for the passage of the 21st Century Cures Act, a landmark bill with bipartisan support that provided a significant increase in funding for the NIH and included Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reforms designed to speed medicine approvals to get them to patients faster," the announcement said.
When Ubl announced his upcoming departure, PhRMA said that under his leadership, the group had "fought to preserve a world-leading regulatory and intellectual property system that enabled companies to deliver hundreds of new medicines to patients over the past decade. He also led efforts to defeat numerous federal and state proposals that threatened the availability of new treatments and cures for patients."
- Axios senior health care editor Adriel Bettelheim contributed to this report.
