Joe Franklin, JD, PhD, is Executive Vice President for Policy and Chief Legal Officer at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO). In this role, he leads BIO’s legal function and oversees key policy priorities including access and reimbursement, intellectual property, national security, and international affairs.
Joe joined BIO in 2026 from Covington & Burling LLP, where he played an active role in the firm’s life sciences and artificial intelligence practices, advising clients in the biopharma and tech industries on complex FDA regulatory matters, clinical research, and the deployment of artificial intelligence. Previously, Joe was Chief Counsel for Regulatory and Strategic Affairs at Verily, Alphabet’s precision health company.
Over nearly a decade as an attorney and policy lead at FDA, Joe held several senior leadership positions and advised on a range of issues. Joe spent multiple periods in FDA’s Office of the Chief Counsel, where he advised agency staff and leadership on biologics and biosimilars, emergency use authorizations, user fees, drug compounding, and controlled substances, among other areas. Joe advised FDA on the reauthorization of the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA VI) and Biosimilar User Fee Act (BsUFA II) and development of the commitment letters for these programs. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Joe worked within the HHS General Counsel’s Immediate Office to advise HHS leadership on vaccine regulation and support the White House’s pandemic response efforts. As policy director to the FDA Principal Deputy Commissioner, Joe helped lead FDA’s technology and data modernization strategy and oversee a broad portfolio of regulatory and scientific programs. In FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, he built and led the biosimilars policy staff in the Office of New Drugs. Joe also served as FDA’s Deputy Chief of Staff in 2015.
A Florida native, Joe has a B.S. in biology from Duke University, a PhD in cell biology from Yale University, and a JD from Washington University in St. Louis. He lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife and children.