Innovation is one of the many things that fuels societal progress. Within healthcare, innovation not only must occur in science, technology and medicine – but also in how we think and approach healthcare problems and solutions.
I am very pleased to share that AstraZeneca’s Global CEO, David Brennan and former U.S Congressman and House Majority Leader. Richard A. Gephardt spoke about medical innovation at the Aspen Health Forum in Washington, DC.
The discussion focused on personalized health care and prevention and made the point that medical innovation finds its true meaning through the impact it has on patients. As they said, the best way to help patients is to maintain an environment that continues to support and foster medical innovation through incentives for innovative therapies.
“While not every medicine will make it to market,” Brennan said, “we believe it is critical to keep this medical innovation alive and well - building on advances in drug discovery and development paves the way for a new generation of medicines… offering cures where none were available before.”
The bar for innovation is being raised higher and higher with scientific and medical advancement built upon the learning from many prior failures. “…offering cures where none were available before,” is for me at the heart of meaningful medical innovation.
What do you think? What other goals should medical innovation strive to achieve?
Earl Whipple, our blog editor, is a Senior Director in AZ’s Corporate Communications group. While he is the main contributor and voice of this blog, you’ll also see guest bloggers from time to time. We feel it’s important to offer a variety of perspectives on the topics and issues discussed here.
