The Association of Clinical Research Organizations (ACRO) supports the Foreign Earnings Reinvestment Act, bipartisan legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate last week by senators Kay Hagan (D-NC) and John McCain (R-AZ).

The legislation would allow American companies to bring overseas earnings back to the U.S. through tax repatriation.

“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, Ph.D., 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; ACRO members employ more than 7,000 research professionals in the state. CROs are also significant employers in Arizona, California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wisconsin and Texas, among other states.

“This is an issue we have been working on and lobbying on for the better part of this year,” John Lewis, vice president of public affairs for ACRO, told CenterWatch. “By its nature, drug development is global. Our members operate all over the world because that is what is required to run clinical trials and do drug development today.”

“While these numbers are not publicly disclosed,” he said, “as best we can estimate, our members have something in the range of a billion dollars or so of overseas profits that could be brought back to the U.S. and invested.”