Comments on: An Open Letter to Mr. Obama on Innovation Policy

By: Anonymous

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By: handbags shop

handbags shop — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 05:46:31 +0000

Either keep your word to those that voted for what they believed you would stand for, or step aside, we had eight years of broken promised and deceit and we can't allow another Presidential term to proceed that is following the same path of

By: Oppose Bailouts for Venture Capital Investors | Mendelson's Musings

Oppose Bailouts for Venture Capital Investors | Mendelson's Musings — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 18:57:38 +0000

[...] agree with the premise. In fact, my open letter to the Obama administration on what innovation policy should be details my support and how I think the government should be [...]

By: Martha Leftwich

Martha Leftwich — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 10:18:15 +0000

Dear President Obama;
What has happened to your personal values?
By allowing a Health Care package to pass that includes a cut to the Social Security Benefits and Medicare to the ones that depends on it for survival and medical care, you have betrayed the very back bone of America.
By allowing it to pass with a Mandate to force everyone to buy coverage from the greedy insurance companies you are giving in to a "dictatorship" controlled by them.
You are clearly willing to penalize the very people who are struggling to "JUST" survive, to enrich the powerful insurance and drug companies
By allowing it to pass without either a single payer or public option you will prove to the people of America that you did not tell us the truth.
As time passes I am seeing you as a very weak person, a person that will compromise your values for the approval of the Corporations and Conservatives.
I and millions of voters voted for you because we thought you would stand up for what you said in your speeches during your campaign, we voted for a change in Government policies, "Not a changed Barack Obama"
Not only are you compromising the elderly, disabled, poor and minimum wage earners of America, you are compromising the Democratic Party, I do not want to believe that you are aware of the number of people you are hurting by your Conservative decisions.
Please Mr. President !
Either keep your word to those that voted for what they believed you would stand for, or step aside, we had eight years of broken promised and deceit and we can't allow another Presidential term to proceed that is following the same path of destruction.
Martha Leftwich
P.O. Box 841
Weaver, Alabama 36277

By: Just When You Thought It Was Safe for Venture Capital Regulation… | Mendelson's Musings

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:19:05 +0000

[...] you’d like to read about the regulation issue, it’s part of my letter to Obama on innovation policy blog a while [...]

By: Startup Visa Momentum | Mendelson's Musings

Startup Visa Momentum | Mendelson's Musings — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:53:44 +0000

[...] part of my recent open letter to the President on innovation, one of the topics that I wrote about was that of creating a special type of visa to allow [...]

By: Jason Mendelson

Jason Mendelson — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:44:12 +0000

I heard similar stories from biotech investors this week at the NVCA meeting. I agree, this just isn’t right. Best of luck to you.

By: Laurence Sampson

Laurence Sampson — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:17:32 +0000

Jason, you like a comment on the business side as well.

I am currently working a start up developing two new surgical tools for the urology market. The total overhaul of the healthcare system is causing dramatic ripple effects in the investment community. We are currently in a fundraising round and have run into significant resistance due to healthcare system uncertainty. One of the difficult realities of the US heathcare system is the fact that the private payer system pays for a significant portion of the medicaid system. Medicaid price fixes the procedures in the form of "Reimbursement codes", and leaves the remainder to be covered by the private pay system. It is not uncommon for a hospital to carry a loss on 80% of the procedures done. Change to a single payer system would be a disaster to the firm profitability. Additionally, there are rumors of a 6% tax on gross medical devices sales sold in the US. How many firms could withstand a 6% drop in their gross revenue without a major adjustment? What adjustment would that be in a price fixed environment? No wonder the investors are getting cold feet.

It is hard to imagine two changes making a worse impact on the investor confidence, but there is more. FDA is undertaking a significant rewrite of the 510k device approval process. All indications are that the agency is going to return to the adversarial relationship it imposed under Kessler (the former FDA commissioner), and significantly increase the device Verification & Validation requirements. The changes I am hearing will increase the time to market by several months to years, while Europe already has a quicker and more efficient regulatory process than the US. I think everyone is interested in improving the 510k process, but care must be taken not to compromise our competitive position in the global marketplace or the development firms will simply move their development efforts elsewhere. It should be noted that these jobs are the highest paying technical jobs in the country. Biotechnology also represents the most significant venture investment, and is one of the most vibrant, and profitable industries in the US.

By: Kate Mitchell

Kate Mitchell — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 03:40:44 +0000

Jason, we all owe you thanks for speaking up so cogently. I like the umbrella of "innovation policy". That encapsulates all the job creation & US competitiveness issues that go along with it. We all need to do our part and spread the word as these issues will effect our daily lives & our industry's economics – not to mention the many entrepreneurs who won't get funded if we aren't successful. Let's not slow down a critical engine of growth just when we need it!

By: David Binetti

David Binetti — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 23:12:22 +0000

Instead of just hoping it will get read, help it to get read. In less than 60 hours we got 500 voters (verifiable) to sign on to support Paul Graham's #startupvisa proposal using the 2gov.org service. It elevates the message when real voters in the real world attach their names to the sentiment. The original letter and supporting tweets will be sent to the White House in hard copy through connections. Just something to consider…