Global Biopharmaceutical Leader Powers its US Policy Strategy with FiscalNote

With a mission focused on innovation and specialty care in oncology, neuroscience, and rare disease, global biopharmaceutical leader Ipsen trusts FiscalNote to manage its government affairs presence within the United States.

As the Head of State Government Affairs and Policy at Ipsen, John Valenti starts his day with FiscalNote and our dedicated professional services team to stay on top of anything that may impact Ipsen’s business operations.

“One of the first emails I look at every day is what FiscalNote has sent me on that day's perspective,” he says. “It could be a committee report, has legislation been enacted, passed, or tweaked … that's my go-to email every morning.”

Specifically, Valenti’s team is focused on monitoring legislation and regulations regarding pharmaceutical price transparency, pharmacy benefits managers (PBM) reform, government insurance plans, taxes, and environmental issues, among other topics throughout the country.

“I'm looking for the trends in pharma and FiscalNote does a really good job,” he says. “I cover all 50 states from a trends perspective. And then if something does pass, like price transparency, I've got the ability through FiscalNote to track the legislation and forward that on to our internal folks so they can read the law and understand what has to be implemented and when.”

No Small State

“The states are not the testing ground anymore,” Valenti says. “They’re actually the incubator of innovation and implementation of innovation.”

That’s why Valenti depends on FiscalNote’s policy experts’ customized analysis as a force multiplier to monitor the main issues Ipsen tracks across all 50 states — even in those where Ipsen’s presence might not be as strong. He knows trends develop quickly; one day, legislation might be proposed in one state and the next you see it pop up across many others.

“The industry wasn’t paying much attention to Nevada, and then next thing you know, Nevada is a trendsetter when it came to price transparency,” Valenti says. “Now you've got 15 states across the country that require manufacturers to do something with price transparency. There's no small state; a pebble in the water makes a ripple. Take Vermont, who had importation legislation passed, now you're seeing the biggest state in the country when it comes to pharmaceuticals, Florida, trying to do importation.”

In addition to the daily updates directly from FiscalNote's policy management tool, policy experts in our Professional Services team provide Valenti with a custom weekly policy report focused on the main topic areas for Ipsen. This helps him identify opportunities, risks, and trends across the U.S., minimize time spent reviewing policy with curated lists of relevant bills or rules, and quickly understand the intent of each piece of policy with succinct summaries.

Tracking the Myriad Legislative Processes Across the Country with a Comprehensive Policy Management Tool

Monitoring multiple proposed legislation throughout the various statehouses means tracking hundreds of potential laws at the same time. Without technology combined with human expert analysis by his side, Valenti might miss important developments that could wreak havoc for Ipsen. He relies on FiscalNote to keep the process streamlined so he’s not caught off guard.

“In one instance in the state of Washington, they had prescription drug affordability language that was introduced early in the year, but that legislation went through so many changes that just me having the ability to go in [FiscalNote] every week to see where the legislation is, what’s been added, or what's the change from the previous amendments, was beneficial,” he says.

FiscalNote's policy management tool also helps Valenti prioritize the myriad developments in each state with future-looking features. Knowing what has a higher likelihood of passing or a sponsor legislator’s track record serves as a guide to focus his attention and efforts, and helps him explain the urgency to others within his organization.

“[FiscalNote] puts in the likelihood of something passing by that sponsor and that's been a really good tool to say internally, ‘hey, we need to pay attention to this as it's moving because the legislator has a high success rate,’” he adds.

But Valenti’s work in FiscalNote doesn’t end after a law is passed. He continues to follow the implementation process at the regulatory level to make sure Ipsen stays compliant every step of the way.

Proving Value Across the Organization with a Policy Management Tool

FiscalNote’s policy management tool and team of policy experts also help Valenti when reporting to his internal stakeholders. Within the platform, he can quickly export reports that help visualize the policy developments Ipsen cares about throughout the country. Plus, our Professional Services team of policy experts provides customized bill summaries Valenti can use internally to explain why each bill is important, specifically for his organization.

“I try to do a weekly or monthly report to different internal divisions to let them know what is moving. I usually don't send anything to my internal teams unless I know that there might be some type of action or that there was an action taken,” he says.

Valenti can also report on his time spent in meetings with legislators and key stakeholders and how they align with his goals directly from FiscalNote.

“I log my interactions with legislators [in FiscalNote] and, to me, that's been very beneficial because now I'm able to articulate why am I meeting with these individuals, and also able to articulate the number of touchpoints that I have,” he says.

Powering Future Growth by Combining FiscalNote's Policy Management Tool and Expert Analysis

Valenti is in the process of highlighting the top 25 markets for a rare disease franchise in the United States. He plans to continue leveraging FiscalNote and our Professional Services team of policy experts to power this growth and take a more proactive approach to state government affairs at Ipsen.