Rep. Madeleine Dean Joins WWFH, LSPA, and C4IP for Pennsylvania Innovation Roundtable

WWFH recently partnered with Life Sciences Pennsylvania (LSPA) and the Council for Innovation Promotion (C4IP) to convene a roundtable with Rep. Madeleine Dean and leaders from across the life sciences sector at Rockland Immunochemicals, just outside the Philadelphia area.

Pennsylvania plays a critical role in the nation’s innovation economy – supporting more than 262,350 jobs, including 56,086 direct roles, and generated approximately $85.2 billion in economic output in 2022. The industry also accounted for more than 13.6 million labor hours across the state, reflecting the scale of research, development, and manufacturing activity underway.

That momentum continues to grow, with billions of dollars in new investment driving the development of at least four advanced manufacturing facilities. These investments are expanding the industry’s footprint across Pennsylvania and supporting next-generation cell therapy, gene therapy production, as well as new treatments for several disease states.

The discussion offered a clear, end-to-end look at the life sciences ecosystem – from early stage discovery to patient impact. Participants highlighted how intellectual property protections fuel innovation, how advanced manufacturing turns research into treatments, and how a stable policy environment ultimately benefits patients and communities.

Ahead of the roundtable, Rep. Dean toured Rockland’s facility with WWFH Executive Director Dan Leonard and other participants. The tour grounded the conversation in real-world impact, connecting policy decisions directly to the work happening at the lab bench and on the manufacturing floor.

Rep. Dean centered the discussion on patients, emphasizing the importance of sustained medical innovation and the policies that support it. She voiced strong support for intellectual property protections and the Realizing Engineering, Science, and Technology Opportunities by Restoring Exclusive (RESTORE) Patent Rights Act of 2025 (H.R. 1574), while underscoring the need for bipartisan collaboration to maintain U.S global competitiveness.

Dan reinforced the critical role of policy in enabling innovation. He pointed to foundational frameworks like the Bayh-Dole Act and the Hatch-Waxman Act as key drivers of U.S. leadership in biopharmaceuticals, noting that continued success depends on a stable, predictable environment that encourages investment and safeguards discovery.

Dan also highlighted growing global competition, particularly from countries like China. Maintaining U.S. leadership, he emphasized, will require deliberate policy choices that incentivize innovation and strengthen regional ecosystems such as Pennsylvania’s.

There was broad agreement on the importance of intellectual property in driving both innovation and patient access. At the same time, participants raised concerns about emerging policy risks, including proposals like Most Favored Nation pricing, warning these approaches could introduce uncertainty, discourage investment, and ultimately slow the development of future treatments.

The roundtable underscored the value of direct engagement between policymakers and the innovation community, particularly in states like Pennsylvania, where the impact of the life sciences sector is both immediate and far-reaching.

We Work For Health applauds Representative Madeleine Dean (D‑PA‑4) for her longstanding leadership and steadfast commitment to strong intellectual property policy and remains committed to partnering with leaders like the Congresswoman to advance policies that strengthen U.S. competitiveness, support medical innovation, and deliver for patients nationwide.