Opinion Carla Smith is a healthcare thought leader with nearly 30 years’ experience. She champions transformational strategy, governance, and policy in the health sector, particularly in the areas of digital health and health IT. In this article, Ms Smith discusses the massive potential of digital therapeutics in helping patients manage their…

Opinion After her son was diagnosed with SYNGAP1 – an extremely rare gene mutation – Monica founded Bridge the Gap – SYNGAP Education and Research Foundation to support families of those suffering from the illness and to accelerate the path to better therapies. Here Monica discusses the incredibly low rate of treatment options for…

Opinion Aditya Bhattacharji manages Eurasia Group‘s healthcare analysis. In this article, he gives his predictions for the political landscape in healthcare for 2019.  The challenges for firms are painfully apparent—there is bipartisan support in the US to lower drug prices, a pervasive sense that traditional advocacy methods are failing in today’s political climate,…

USA Chester “Chip” Davis, Jr, the President and CEO of the Association for Accessible Medicines (AAM) weighs in on the issue of drug shortages in America.    An uncertain environment for generic manufacturers imperils the sustainability of patient access to low-cost generic medicines.   The unavailability of prescription medicines can cause physical suffering,…

Opinion Axel Schumacher, co-founder and chief scientific officer of Shivom, a data-driven next generation precision-medicine company in the blockchain space, calls for Pharma to leverage big-data on a global level to ensure all patients have a therapy option.    The key to success for pharma players is to sponsor the accumulation of…

Mexico David Peña Castillo, president and founder of the Mexican Federation of Rare Diseases (FEMEXER), addresses the problem of patients deserting therapies.   In Mexico, approximately 15 percent of patients treated with therapies for rare diseases, dismiss the concept of adherence to treatments. In Latin American Countries such as Mexico, keeping…

Mexico Cristobal Thompson is the executive director at AMIIF (Asociacion Mexicana de Industrias de Investigacion Farmaceutica). The AMIIF represents more than 60 global companies with the aim of contributing to improving health in Mexico through innovative medicine. Here Thompson discusses the need for stronger public-private sector alliances in the push towards universal…

Opinion Meghann Chilcott, senior vice president of OrderInsite, discusses the opportunities and threats around Amazon’s move into selling software that reads medical records.   Digital health records are notorious for creating more work for doctors. A lack of standard practices means that the information saved in these records is often copied and…

Canada Jan Hux is the President and CEO of Diabetes Canada. Canadians have been at the forefront of tackling diabetes since the discovery of insulin. Now that the disease has become an epidemic, measures must be put in place to tackle it at a population level.   If diabetes prevalence were…

Patients The Director General of EFPIA (European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations) discusses what they are doing to put patients at the forefront of their business.      Actively listening to patient experiences, patient challenges and exchanging insights must shape how EFPIA develops its thinking, its dialogue with others, its policy…

IFPMA On Universal Health Coverage day, the Director General of IFPMA (the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations) explains UHC and how the biopharmaceutical industry is part of the solution.   Our industry is much more than a supplier of medicines and vaccines and is increasingly pioneering new ways to overcome…

USA David H. Crean, PhD, Managing Director for Objective Capital Partners, a leading investment banking advisory firm examines the venture investment activity in life sciences for the past year.    In order to have a successful life sciences R&D program, biotech and pharma companies must develop game-changing therapeutics, companion diagnostics and personalized…