Mark Charbonneau responds to Abbey Meller and Hauwa Ahmed’s article, “How Big Pharma Reaps Profits While Hurting Everyday Americans” (American Progress).

For the past several years, I’ve recognized a divide between my professional and personal lives. Professionally, I work as a scientist for a biotechnology company that develops new therapies for patients with rare metabolic diseases, like phenylketonuria (PKU). People with PKU must adhere to extremely low-protein diets to prevent permanent intellectual disability, and these patients desperately need more effective treatments with fewer side effects. I’ve observed firsthand how challenging, expensive, and time-consuming it is for teams of highly trained and creative professionals to develop a new drug.