The largest device lobby in the U.S. names a new president and CEO who comes from BIO and held positions with the Department of Health and Human Services.

Arundhati Parmar

Back in September, Stephen Ubl jumped ship from being chief of AdvaMed to taking the reins at PhrMA (Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America).

And now the largest device lobby in the U.S. has sought his replacement from another lobby group: BIO. AdvaMed announced Thursday that Scott Whitaker, previously chief operating officer of BIO (Biotechnology Innovation Organization), will become president and CEO starting April 4. 

"It is a tremendous privilege to join AdvaMed and represent such an innovative and life changing industry," Whitaker said in a statement.  "Given the many health care challenges throughout the world, it is critical that we work together to create a policy and regulatory environment that will allow this industry to continue to discover, develop and deliver innovative medical technologies to patients. It is essential that patients everywhere have full access to the benefits of medical technology."

Whitaker also knows the ins and outs of government having been chief of staff and assistant secretary for legislation at the Department of Health and Human Services before joining the biotech lobby group.

He joins AdvaMed at a time when the 2.3% device tax has been temporarily paused. Short of full repeal that some expect may well happen, it was a significant achievement by AdvaMed which rallied bipartisan support to achieve the 2-year pause.

But that is relatively a minor head wind compared to other challenges the industry faces: a slowdown in Asian markets even as pressures at home grow through bundled payments, performance-based pricing contracts and hospital consolidating medtech vendors.  

Arundhati Parmar is senior editor at MD+DI. Reach her at [email protected] and on Twitter @aparmarbb