IBA: How are current trends such as the opioid crisis affecting life sciences insurance and risk management?
Walker Taylor: The industry handles the opioid crisis by putting exclusions on insurance policies, which is kind of like how insurance handles asbestos, lead and other crises. The opioid crisis has narrowed the supply of insurance for organizations, and when risks are being underwritten, underwriters are looking very closely and being very careful with the underwriting. That’s why the risk management industry is so valuable to the life sciences and pharmaceutical space; it helps bring safer and more effective products and services to market.
Also, the laws continually change in this industry. There was recently a Supreme Court decision, Helsinn v. Teva, in which the court ruled on patent protection and when businesses must file for it. So if you have a drug company that is partnering with a device company, the Supreme Court essentially ruled that you cannot prevent a sale, but you could potentially lose patent protection if you don’t patent before a device is commercialized.
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