McCain is the FrontRunner - The Tea Leaves for Pharma

by Mark S. Senak
Eye On FDA




Last night, John McCain won the Florida primary, clearly putting him in the status of front runner in the Republican Party. Hillary Clinton won Florida, even though that is an empty victory as far as delegates, she is trying to make it into something, and perhaps it does count for something.

Senator McCain's speech sounded like one rallying all the troops around his nomination. Rudy Giuliani is going to endorse the Senator when he drops out of the race today. And Hillary Clinton is leading in most of the polls of states slated for the Super Tuesday primary.

As a matter of mathematics at this point, it would seem like the election is shaping up to eventually be a Clinton/McCain contest. If the polls for Super Tuesday are right - what would that mean?

As indicated in my earlier features on the candidates both Hillary Clinton and John McCain have indicated that they are in favor of importation and in favor of the ability of the government to negotiate Medicare Part D prices - two domains examined in my candidate series that could re-shape somewhat the pharmaceutical market. Rudy Giuliani opposed importation.

The difference may be that Hillary Clinton seems to have an ax to grind when it comes to the pharmaceutical industry. That does not appear in the McCain rhetoric, nor necessarily with the Obama rhetoric, though that is not clear. Nevertheless, the only difference between the two candidates may be about insurance and the way in which the uninsured are eventually covered.

In that case, it would seem that the candidate between McCain and Clinton who most wants to get the most people who are uninsured, to gain insurance as soon as possible, and therefore to have drug coverage, may be the most amenable candidate to pharma after all.

More on that later.





Eye On FDA is a regular contributor to BioHealth Investor
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