9 May 2016 - A group of major US investors, spooked by the recent slump in biotech shares amid political bashing of drug prices, met with a lobbying group and executives last month to urge them to do a better job in defending their industry and take control of the conversation before lawmakers try to regulate prices.

Representatives from Fidelity Investments, T. Rowe Price Group Inc. and Wellington Management Co. -- which all invest about a fifth or more of their U.S. stock holdings in health care -- were among those at the meeting, held at a Boston hotel, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because the meeting wasn’t public.

“Biotech lives and dies on investors being willing to put money at risk for long periods of time,” said Ron Cohen, board chair of Biotechnology Innovation Organization, an industry group known as BIO, who attended the meeting. BIO is now mobilizing to take a more prominent stance on drug pricing, he said, fearing shareholders will flee the sector: “Ninety percent of companies fail, and investors are putting hundreds of millions of dollars over 10 to 15 years -- they have to believe that if they win, they win big.”

For more details, go to: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-09/top-funds-said-to-tell-pharma-leaders-to-defend-drug-pricing