Several top biotech executives are slated to speak at a “Make America Healthy Again” event on Wednesday that’s headlined by federal health officials, according to an agenda reviewed by
Endpoints News
.
On a panel entitled “Making American Biotechnology Accelerate,” Regeneron co-founder and chief scientific officer George Yancopoulos will be joined by CRISPR Therapeutics CEO Sam Kulkarni and serial biotech investor Alexis Borisy, who co-founded startup accelerator Curie.Bio. It will be moderated by Amol Punjabi, described as a former special government employee at HHS and a biotech investor.
The executives’ participation in the event, dubbed the MAHA Summit, is notable given how frequently Trump administration officials, including HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., have railed against the pharmaceutical industry and how it’s been regulated.
The summit is slated to include prominent leaders across the federal health department. Kennedy will give closing remarks and FDA chief Marty Makary will participate in a fireside chat. CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz will speak to Katie Miller, a top GOP operative and wife of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, alongside his deputy and top drug price negotiator Chris Klomp. Vice President JD Vance will make a keynote address.
Details of the event were first reported by
Politico.
A spokesperson for HHS directed questions to the organizer of the event, which was not immediately clear. Opening remarks will be given by Tony Lyons, head of the Kennedy-aligned group MAHA Action; MAHA Holdings CEO Alex Hardy; and Kennedy’s son Finn, a board member of MAHA Holdings.
A spokesperson for CRISPR Therapeutics said that Kulkarni was invited “to share his perspective as a leader in the field and will be discussing how gene editing has the potential to fundamentally change the treatment paradigm for patients across a range of diseases.” A spokesperson for Curie.Bio declined to comment and a spokesperson for Regeneron did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Kennedy invested in CRISPR Therapeutics prior to taking the helm of HHS. Financial disclosures ahead of his confirmation process showed that Kennedy owned between $1,000 to $15,000 in shares, which he subsequently
pledged to divest
. Kennedy also said in his financial disclosure that he’d divest from Dragonfly Therapeutics, a separate biotech. An HHS spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on CRISPR’s participation in Wednesday’s event.
Borisy and Curie.Bio’s participation also stand out. Curie CEO Zach Weinberg has been critical of China’s growing influence in biotech and has argued that the administration should restrict the outward flow of deals from there. He previously
told Endpoints over the summer
that the administration should consider executive action that would discourage US-China deals. The
New York Times
reported in September that there is a draft executive order that would do just that, though it’s unclear how likely that move is.
In a speaking tour with biopharma executives over the summer, FDA officials — including Makary —
heard from industry insiders
who called on the agency to do more to expedite new trials and rival China and other nations like Australia, where earlier-stage trials have become popular. John Crowley, CEO of the trade group BIO,
underscored at a Senate hearing
last month that reforms are needed to keep the industry competitive in the years ahead.