Bradley Merrill Thompson, a Member of the Firm in the Health Care and Life Sciences practice, in the Washington, DC, office, was quoted in an article titled "Voices of Frustration, Uncertainty in Medtech Election Perspective."
Following is an excerpt:
The medical device industry just wants some clear direction when it comes to the key issues and the political conversation in 2012.
"The ability to sit down and develop sensible policy inevitably through compromise on both sides just doesn't seem to be happening anymore," says Bradley Merrill Thompson. "It discourages people from getting involved, and it keeps good people from having any desire to go to Washington because the environment is so poisonous and not designed to get the will of the people done." ?...
"In a lot of quarters, there's a fair amount of disinterest or ambivalence towards the presidential election," Thompson says. "Who sits in the president's office does directly impact other issues that people care about—just not so much the issues that impact the success or failure of the device industry. FDA doesn't change radically each time the president changes or each time there's a change in the party in control of Congress. Even with FDA changes in commissioner, it takes a long time for that to impact FDA regulation on a day-to-day basis." ?...
