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In addition to the election, the State’s new Prescription Drug Affordability Council (PDAC) held its first meeting virtually on November 6th. As a reminder, these are the public members who have been appointed to serve on the PDAC:
- Katherine Hempstead, Senior Policy Adviser at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Used to work at the NJ DOH in Center for Health Stats before 2011
- George Scott, DO: Dean of the School of Osteopathic Medicine at Rowan University
- Rena Conti, Associate Professor of Markets, Public Policy, and Law at Boston University — and was Special Government Advisor to CMS in 2022 and 2024 and served at the FDA. Has published academic papers supporting the drug provisions of the IRA and is knowledgeable about 340B. She is also on the New England CEPAC (formed by ICER).
- Crystal McDonald, Associate State Director of Advocacy at AARP. Formerly at the NJHCQI; Citizen Action regional organizer before that
- Suja Mathew, MD, Chief Clinical Officer at the Atlantic Health System
- (Alternate member) Jubril Oyeyemi, MD: Founder and CEO of Cherry Hill Free Clinic and Chief Medical Officer at Camdon Coalition and Medical Director for Community Health at Virtual Health
- (Alternate member) Keith Lewis, MD, Chair of the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine at Rutgers Medical School
- (Alternate member) Christopher Zipp, DO: Chair of Family Medicine at the Atlantic Health System.
At the meeting, Dr. Suja Mathew and Professor Rena Conti were absent. However, the rest of the members were sworn in. In addition to the swearing-in process, the agenda included a brief description of business for the next meeting, which will take place on November 25th at 10:30AM.
Further, the Council members considered its 2025 meeting schedule which will likely be monthly and they will cancel meetings if insufficient data are available. Additionally, the topic of who will serve as Chair was raised by Crystal McDonald of AARP. It appears that a vote to appoint Chair will take place at the meeting on November 25th, and PDAC members will submit their interest individually to the Acting Executive Director of the PDAC at the Division of Consumer Affairs, Lisa Tadeo ahead of that meeting.
While the agenda for the PDAC meeting on November 25th at 10:30AM is unavailable as of yet, BioNJ hopes to facilitate engagement of advocates for innovation to ensure that the voice of the life sciences — and the Patients we serve — is heard by the Council. Please reach out to Ian McLaughlin, VP of Government Affairs at BioNJ, with any thoughts or questions: IMcLaughlin@BioNJ.org.
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