28 August 2019 - - Rodger Currie, JD, has been appointed vice president and head of government affairs and alliance development at US-based healthcare company GRAIL, Inc., the company said.

Currie will report to Joshua Ofman, MD, MSHS, who was recently appointed Chief of Corporate Strategy and External Affairs.

Together, they will spearhead GRAIL's government affairs, policy, and advocacy efforts as the company continues to prepare its multi-cancer early detection test for commercialisation.

Currie joins GRAIL from Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), where he most recently served as executive vice president for Advocacy; led federal, state, and international government relations and alliances; and reported to PhRMA president and chief executive officer, Steve Ubl.

In addition to his time at PhRMA, Currie served as vice president of Global government Affairs for Amgen Inc. from 2004 to 2010, where he built and led the team that ensured patient access to four of the top 10 Medicare Part B drugs.

He also led Amgen's effort to support the development and passage of the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-148).

Prior to joining Amgen, Currie held multiple roles in government relations at PhRMA, culminating as senior vice president for government Affairs and Law, where he led the biopharmaceutical industry's effort to support the enactment of the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 that created the Part D drug benefit (Public Law 108-173).

Before that, he was Majority Health Counsel to the US House Committee on Energy and Commerce, where he was Counsel of Record for the landmark FDA Modernization Act (Public Law 105-115) which modernised FDA regulation of drug, device, and biological products; streamlined the development process for new medicines; and cut approval times in half through the reauthorisation of the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA II).

He also served as Chief of Government Affairs for the physician leaders at the American Psychiatric Association.

A lawyer, Currie was an associate at the healthcare law firm of Fox, Bennett and Turner prior to working on Capitol Hill and later worked as a partner to Nick Littlefield at the law firm of Foley Hoag.

He earned his bachelor's degree in government and his JD from Georgetown University.

GRAIL is a healthcare company whose mission is to detect cancer early, when it can be cured. GRAIL is focused on alleviating the global burden of cancer by developing pioneering technology to detect and identify multiple deadly cancer types early.

The company is using the power of next-generation sequencing, population-scale clinical studies, and computer science and data science to enhance the scientific understanding of cancer biology, and to develop its multi-cancer early detection blood test. GRAIL is located in Menlo Park, California.

It is supported by leading global investors and pharmaceutical, technology, and healthcare companies.