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John Lewis
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ACRO Endorses Foreign Earnings Reinvestment Act
October 6, 2011 – WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Association of Clinical Research Organizations (ACRO) announced its support to the Foreign Earnings Reinvestment Act introduced today in the U.S. Senate by Senators Kay Hagan (D-NC) and John McCain (R-AZ).
This bipartisan legislation primes the pump for American companies to bring overseas earnings back to the U.S. through tax repatriation, and will create American jobs.
“Clinical research organizations are a prime example of an industry that was founded not long ago with American ingenuity and where U.S. companies remain among the dominant players globally,” said Doug Peddicord, PhD, Executive Director of ACRO. “Our members have seen revenues and employment more than double over the past 10 years. But disease knows no boundaries and drug development is a global enterprise. As such, our members typically derive at least half of their revenues from outside the U.S.”
North Carolina is a hub for clinical research and ACRO members employ more than 7,000 research professionals in the state. In July of this year, ACRO sent aletter to Senator Hagan encouraging her to support tax repatriation legislation as a way to invest and grow jobs in North Carolina and throughout the rest of the United States. CROs are also significant employers in Arizona, California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wisconsin and Texas, among other states.
Peddicord concluded: “We want to thank Senators Hagan and McCain for introducing this legislation that will help promote U.S. jobs and innovation and we stand ready to help them so this bill can become law.”
About ACRO
The Association of Clinical Research Organizations (ACRO) represents companies whose focus is clinical research. The association provides an active voice for the global CRO industry, which provides specialized services that are integral to the discovery and development of drugs, biologics, vaccines and medical devices. Through its member companies, ACRO helps improve the quality, efficiency and safety of biomedical research. ACRO member companies employ more than 72,000 professionals worldwide and last year conducted more than 11,500 clinical trials involving nearly 2 million participants in 114 countries. For more information, please visit www.www.acrohealth.org.