埃里克·坎托（Eric Cantor）这位曾担任众议院共和党领袖、对华盛顿官方运作有着极丰富经验的资深人士于周二被任命为美国制药行业代言机构——美国药物研究与制造商协会（PhRMA）的总裁兼首席执行官，该任命将于11月9日正式生效。
Eric Cantor, a former House Republican leader who is among the most seasoned navigators of official Washington, on Tuesday was named president and CEO of PhRMA, the voice of the pharmaceutical industry, effective Nov. 9.
意义何在：现年63岁的坎托将成为该行业的公众形象代表。在人工智能时代，该行业正处于美国创新的最前沿，但如果如预期那样民主党在11月的中期选举中夺得众议院控制权，该行业将面临日益严格的审查。
Why it matters: Cantor, 63, becomes the public face of an industry that's at the forefront of American innovation in the AI age but will face rising scrutiny if, as expected, Democrats take the House in November's midterms.
坎托接替的是史蒂夫·乌布尔（Steve Ubl）。乌布尔于今年4月宣布，他计划在掌舵全美最具权势的说客集团之一PhRMA 11年后卸任。
Cantor succeeds Steve Ubl, who announced in April that he planned to step down after 11 years at the helm of PhRMA, one of the nation's most powerful lobbying groups.
坎托是一名共和党人，曾在国会代表弗吉尼亚州里士满地区，后来成为华尔街的重要大鳄。
Cantor is a Republican who represented the Richmond, Virginia, area in Congress and later became a big Wall Street player.
各方言论：PhRMA在声明中表示，坎托拥有“横跨商业与公共政策领域的数十载经验，将在美国生物制药行业的关键时刻领导该组织。”
What they're saying: PhRMA said in its announcement that Cantor brings "decades of experience at the intersection of business and public policy to lead the organization at a pivotal moment for America's biopharmaceutical industry."
PhRMA董事会主席、默克公司（Merck）首席执行官罗布·戴维斯（Rob Davis）表示：“埃里克在华盛顿以及全球的政策领袖中备受尊崇，他在跨越政治光谱进行有效合作、以达成具有持久影响的重要成果方面有着长期的良好记录。”
Merck CEO Rob Davis, chair of PhRMA's board, said: "Eric is well respected among policy leaders in Washington and around the world, with a long track record of working effectively across the political spectrum to achieve important outcomes that have a lasting impact."
我们关注的焦点：制药公司对医疗负担能力危机负有何种责任，正面临来自两党的审查。民调显示，绝大多数美国人认为当前的处方药价格不合理，并将此归咎于制药商的定价惯例。
What we're watching: The pharmaceutical industry faces bipartisan scrutiny over how drug companies are contributing to the health affordability crisis. Polls show overwhelming majorities of Americans think current prescription drug prices are unreasonable, and blame drugmakers' pricing practices.
如果民主党人在11月3日的选举中赢得权力，他们打算对制药公司与白宫之间的保密定价协议进行审查，并称没有任何证据表明这些协议为美国消费者带来了最低价格。
If Democrats win power on Nov. 3, they intend to scrutinize pharma companies' confidential pricing deals with the White House, saying there's nothing showing that they're delivering the lowest prices to U.S. consumers.
背景：坎托于2000年至2014年在美国众议院代表弗吉尼亚州，并于2011年至2014年担任众议院多数党领袖。
The backstory: Cantor represented Virginia in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2000 to 2014, and was House majority leader from 2011 to 2014.
自从离开国会后，坎托尔一直担任投资银行Moelis & Company的副总裁兼总经理，并经常作为嘉宾出席CNBC的《Squawk Box》节目。
Since leaving Congress, Cantor has been vice chair and managing director at investment bank Moelis & Company. He's a frequent guest on CNBC's "Squawk Box."
坎托尔表示：“美国的生物制药行业处于全球领先地位。PhRMA的成员公司始终站在科学技术的最前沿，致力于研发针对慢性病和罕见病的新疗法。”
Cantor said: "The American biopharmaceutical industry leads the world. PhRMA's member companies operate at the cutting edge of science and technology, seeking novel treatments and cures for both chronic and rare diseases."
PhRMA在声明中提到：在坎托尔担任国会议员期间，他“推动了《Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act》的通过，该法案优先为美国国立卫生研究院（NIH）的儿科疾病研究提供联邦资金支持；他还为《Medicare Part D》法案的制定发挥了重要作用，该法案扩大了老年人及残疾人的药品保障范围。”声明还称：“他还为《21世纪治愈法案》的通过奠定了基础——这项获得两党支持的里程碑式法案大幅增加了对NIH的资助，并推动了食品药品监督管理局（FDA）的改革，以加快药品审批流程，使新药能更快地惠及患者。”
PhRMA's announcement said that in his time in Congress, he "led the bipartisan enactment of the Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act, which prioritized federal support for pediatric disease research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and was instrumental in building support for legislation that established Medicare Part D, expanding access to drug coverage for seniors and people with disabilities." "He also laid the groundwork for the passage of the 21st Century Cures Act, a landmark bill with bipartisan support that provided a significant increase in funding for the NIH and included Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reforms designed to speed medicine approvals to get them to patients faster," the announcement said.
当乌布尔宣布自己即将离职时，PhRMA表示：在坎托尔的领导下，该组织“努力维护了世界领先的监管体系与知识产权保护机制，使得过去十年间有数百种新药能够成功推向市场；同时，他也成功阻止了多项可能威胁新药上市进程的联邦及州级提案。”
When Ubl announced his upcoming departure, PhRMA said that under his leadership, the group had "fought to preserve a world-leading regulatory and intellectual property system that enabled companies to deliver hundreds of new medicines to patients over the past decade. He also led efforts to defeat numerous federal and state proposals that threatened the availability of new treatments and cures for patients."