Innovate or Die

About a year ago, I reviewed one of the more interesting foundation-funded projects in global health.  Thanks in part to the fortunes amassed by the former robber barons, Bill Gates and John Rockefeller, the Center for Health Market Innovations (CHMI) started in early 2010 and “identifies, analyzes, and connects programs working to improve health and [...]

mmmmmHealth

The idea of using communications technology in health care delivery has been popular for about 30 years but the benefits of telemedicine, and its mobile phone sibling, mHealth, are yet to materialize.  While the high-cost medical sector of the developed world inches toward using communication technology to lower costs, governments, international agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and [...]

S and M

Sales and marketing, of course.  When I joined Wyeth Pharmaceutical’s business development group from directing technology transfer at a “non-profit” academic medical center, a new colleague set me straight:  “We don’t make a dime until a customer buys our product.”  Not entirely accurate since pharmaceuticals are not off-the-shelf products, but the meaning was clear:  the [...]

A Plan for Essential Care

Back in November, I wrote about attending the inaugural symposium of the Center for Global Health of the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and about my good impression of one of the speakers, Walter T. Gwenigale, former (pending reappointment) Minister of Health and Social Welfare of Liberia (my post of 11/18/10). Dr. Gwenigale spoke about the [...]

Affordability Revisited

Two postings ago (October 14), I noted that Cipla, the billion-dollar Indian generic pharma company, is developing affordable versions of biological anti-cancer drugs and that it likely assumes there will be some type of scheme to pay for the drugs.  [Sidebar:  Pfizer closed a multimillion dollar deal for diabetes bio-similars last week with another Indian [...]