We've talked the talk many times about the relationship between medical innovation and jobs. Just last month, the industry walked the walk when the grassroots organization "We Work For Health" released a report stating that 12 biopharmaceutical companies spent roughly $20 billion in 2010 on vendors in just three states (New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Texas). You can read more in a LillyPad blog post from last month.

This week, the House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously approved the FDA Reform Act, which will reauthorize the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA).  As I have often discussed on LillyPad , PDUFA is an important legislation that ensures patients have access to new and innovative medicines faster.  This week's LinkPad highlights what is being said about the past successes of PDUFA and its latest legislative installment.

• In an article for the Washington Times, Sally C. Pipes writes, "It's vital that Congress reauthorize the PDUFA with all deliberate speed. The lives and health of millions of American patients depends on it."
• According to an article by Forbes contributor, Doug Schoen, "Despite having received little attention from the media, the Senate may vote on one of the most crucial and serious pieces of health policy [last] week." Schoen outlines the history of PDUFA and its importance for providing patients speedy access to safe medicines.
• The Hill's Sam Baker outlines the desired outcome for PDUFA markups from multiple stakeholders, and emphasizes the quick movement Congress is taking on this must-pass legislation.
• A report released by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to be meeting its performance goals for reviewing applications under the terms of the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA).

For more information about PDUFA, visit the Campaign for Modern Medicines or follow @modernmeds on Twitter.

Today's guest blog was written by Rebecca Burkholder, Vice President of Health Policy at the National Consumers League.  The National Consumers League (NCL) is a nonprofit consumer organization, representing consumers and workers on marketplace and workplace issues since its founding in 1899. Script Your Future is a three-year campaign to raise awareness about the importance of medication adherence, an issue critical to public health.

On Tuesday, I introduced you to Script Your Future.  Now, to celebrate our first anniversary, I want to share some of the exciting things happening at the grassroots level:

Today's guest blog was written by Sandra C. Raymond, President and CEO of the Lupus Foundation of America, Inc.  For more than 10 years, Sandra, along with the National Board of Directors and the LFA's Executive team, has worked tirelessly to advance the science and medicine of lupus and to improve the lives of people with lupus and their families. 

May is Lupus Awareness Month, and today, May 10, is World Lupus Day!  On behalf of the Lupus Foundation of America, Inc. (LFA), I invite you to join us and Band Together for Lupus Awareness to improve the understanding of lupus - an unpredictable autoimmune disease affecting an estimated 1.5 million Americans and at least 5 million people worldwide. 

Lupus is more widespread than most people realize.  In fact, research shows that most Americans know little or nothing about lupus and its devastating impact.  Did you know that 90% of people with lupus are women, and lupus is two to three times more common among African Americans, Hispanics, Asian Americans and Native Americans?  I am confident that banding together for lupus awareness will help advance lupus research, education, and advocacy. 

Today's guest blog is written by Harrison Cook, Vice President for International Government Affairs here at Lilly. Before joining Lilly in 2003, Mr. Cook served as the Chief of Deregulation and Trade Policy in the U.S. Department of Commerce's Office of Japan, where he was the lead technical negotiator with Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.

This week, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement negotiations are being held in Dallas, Texas. The TPP agreement seeks to further economic growth by strengthening US trade within the Asia-Pacific region.

As negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) continue in Dallas, I wanted to take the opportunity to highlight what success would look like for the trade agreement. During my time as the Chief of Deregulation and Trade Policy in the U.S. Department of Commerce's Office of Japan, I came to recognize the importance of strengthening intellectual property rights internationally for encouraging future innovation and strengthening American competitiveness. This sentiment has been echoed by numerous voices in the discussions on TPP.

In order to ensure that the United States can remain competitive in this crucial area, the TPP agreement must bring international standards in-line with current U.S. law. For patents, that means a linkage system in line with the Hatch-Waxman Act that protects the marketing rights for innovators of new medicines while the drugs are reviewed through a regulatory approval process...