SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - The Trump Administration delayed potential 100% tariffs on pharmaceutical products entering the country. But the threat of tariffs and other moves by the White House has reshaped the healthcare industry.
The administration has changed vaccine standards and drug approval processes as part of its broader healthcare policy overhaul.
WATCH: Eli Lilly's chief science officer shares perspective on weight-loss drugs & obesity
However, Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly, which also has labs in San Diego, says it's not worried about the new tariffs. According to the Indianapolis Star, Lilly is exempt from the new tariffs because of its promise to build more manufacturing plants in the U.S.
This past week, the company opened the new Gateway Labs in Torrey Pines, an incubator for startups in the medicine field. The company is also behind one of the most popular weight loss drugs, Mounjaro, which has surged in popularity over the last few years, offering people another option to shed pounds and get other health problems under control.
ABC 10News Anchor Jared Aarons sat with Daniel Skovronsky, the Chief Science Officer at Eli Lilly, for a rare one-on-one interview. He said the company's long history helps them withstand changes in policy, and said it's "amazing" to see how fast these drugs have changed people's perspectives on obesity.
"I think when we started this journey and working on obesity, there were a lot of people out there, even doctors, who would have not quite seen this as a disease," Skovronsky said of obesity. "They would have blamed the patient and said, 'You're making a choice to have obesity.' We know that's not true... I think they've come to see it more as a chronic disease. It's not that different than high cholesterol or high blood pressure. Both of these have environmental and genetic factors like obesity does; they're chronic diseases like diabetes. And actually they're all interrelated."
When asked if it was surprising to see how much other health conditions improved when obesity was treated, Skovronsky explained the interconnected nature of these health issues.
"We've seen a number of trials from different companies and different medicines that each treat obesity, including things like bariatric surgery… In all of those circumstances, we see a tight linkage between treating obesity, improving weight, and other markers that show improvement in cardio/metabolic health. All of these things are linked in our bodies, and it's amazing to have medicine that can change all of that," Skovronsky said.
Right now, Mounjaro retails for more than $1,000 per month, and it's not always covered by insurance. Skovronsky told me the company is working on a pill for obesity that could be more affordable. They just finished the first set of trials and will submit the results to the FDA.
The company also got a new breast cancer drug approved in September.
Even with the changes in healthcare under the new administration, Skovronsky says Lilly's long history helps it withstand shifts in the industry and any potential governmental impacts.
"We've been at this for nearly 150 years. Next year we'll celebrate our 150th anniversary. We take that [history] seriously. We think about the long term," he said. "So, yes, we have to navigate the short-term environment, but the investments we make in research are going to pay off 10, 20 years from now in better medicine. So that makes it easy for us to focus on the long term."
When asked about concerns that changes in the FDA or HHS will make it harder to get medicines approved, Skovronsky responded: "I don't know if that's right or not. Of course, we rely on governments in the United States, governments around the world. We rely on academic institutions and biotech companies. That's all part of the ecosystem that we try to support in different ways. Today (opening the Gateway Lab) we're supporting the biotech part. But we do our best to work closely with governments."
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