[INSPRATIONAL MUSIC STING] - We're now joined by Chrissy Buteas, who's the President and CEO of the HealthCare Institute of New Jersey.

Their website is up right now.

Chrissy, thank you for joining us.

- Thank you, Steve.

Happy to be here.

- You got it.

Tell everyone what the institute is.

- Gladly.

So when you think of saving patients' lives around the world, you think of our pharmaceutical industry and our medical technology industry, and that is who the HealthCare Institute of New Jersey represents, New Jersey's research-based biopharmaceutical research companies along with our medical technology companies.

And we have the privilege of representing this industry before our New Jersey and Washington policymakers.

- Yeah, hey, Chrissy, simple question.

- Sure.

- Why are prescription drug costs... Go ahead, finish the question.

- You're gonna say they're high?

- You need me to tell you they're high?

Why are they so high?

- I knew you were gonna go there, Steve, so, happy to answer the question.

- All yours.

- So look, I mean, the pharmaceutical industry and the medical technology industry saves, saves, money within the healthcare industry.

So what we wanna do is make sure that our patients are receiving the care and have access to care that they need.

For instance, we need our patients to take their medications and to have access to the diagnostics that they need because that prevents them from going into the hospital.

That helps them get treated and to identify a cure much earlier than if they wait any longer.

So that is the first thing we need to make sure happens, that they have access.

Second of all, we also need to make sure that any types of rebates that our manufacturers pass along to PBMs make it over- - Whoa, whoa.

Okay, no acronyms.

PBMs?

- Pharmacy benefit managers.

- Got it.

Go ahead.

So explain that again, that the- - Sure.

Absolutely.

So we wanna make sure that any discount that our manufacturers pass along to the pharmacy benefit managers make it down to the patient and what they pay at the pharmacy counter.

And so we can do that today by moving different state and federal legislation.

- I wanna be clear.

Are you saying that insurance companies that get the benefit of the discount given by drug manufacturers may or may not be passing down the savings to consumers, purchasers of prescription drugs, and that legislation... Is there legislation to mandate that on the federal as well as the state level?

- Yes, and you hit the nail on the head, Steve, so, exactly.

So if we can pass along some of those savings down to the consumer, you'll see a savings right away as well.

- What stands in the way of that... What stands in the way of federal legislation mandating that those costs or those savings get passed on to the consumer?

And on the state level, what's standing in the way of ensuring that the same thing happens?

Please.

- Well, we're making great strides there.

There is legislation that's introduced and in the Congress as well as the legislature, and we're going to keep advocating to make sure that that passes.

- Do you know in the state of New Jersey who the legislator, either the assembly member or the senator who's advocating for this?

Do you know who that is?

- So we have multiple, so I wanna, you know, just mention that we have some bipartisan support there.

I think you know that Senator Vin Gopal has been a real proponent of some PBM reform.

- He has.

- And so we'll see how things shake out, but I just wanna make sure that at the end of the day, our patients receive the medications that they need so that they stay healthy so that we are able to treat and mitigate any type of ailment that they have.

- Chrissy, let me ask you something.

New Jersey is called the quote, "medical chest of the country."

- Medicine chest of the world, Steve.

- The world.

- Proud of it.

- Explain that to folks.

- So we are proud, our companies are proud to call either their global or their North American headquarters home.

Our industry makes up nearly 20% of New Jersey's gross domestic product.

We have nearly 80,000 direct jobs in the state, over 350,000 indirect jobs.

You name it, we have a significant presence here in the state of New Jersey.

We not only wanna keep attracting our life sciences here, but we also wanna retain the companies that have been proud to call New Jersey home for over 120 years.

- Why is it called life sciences?

- Well, because there's so many different facets that go into it.

So you're using different sciences and technologies to advance our medicines moving forward.

And you're also pulling in technology and innovation.

And so we're keeping up with all the advances in medicine these days.

And now with artificial intelligence coming and advancing the industry even further, we're going to see R&D, research and development, even move the industry further at a more rapid pace.

- Last question.

What does New Jersey need to do to keep being the medical chest of the world, meaning policies on a state level to continue to attract and retain the companies you just described, pharmaceutical companies and medical device companies?

- Absolutely.

- Please, Chrissy.

- We wanna keep New Jersey the innovation state of the country.

We wanna make sure that we have policies that remain competitive with the rest of the country and also with the rest of the world.

And so that's on our taxation front.

That's also from an environmental and manufacturing front as well.

We need to make sure we're on the cutting edge.

So that's the best workforce.

That's having a great education.

And of course our location is phenomenal as well.

So when we put all of that together, New Jersey is well positioned to remain a leader in this critical industry, and HINJ is going to be at the forefront to continue to educate and to continue to advocate on behalf of all the patients that our members serve each and every day so we find the cures that our population desperately needs.

- And HINJ stands for HealthCare Institute of New Jersey.

That's why we always explain acronyms.

Chrissy, I wanna thank you so much- - Thank you.

- For joining us.

We appreciate it.

- Really appreciate it, Steve, thank you.

- You got it, and to all of you watching, make sure you catch us next time for compelling, important public policy conversations.

See you then.

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