Recognizing the value of disease prevention with Dr. Len Friedland from GSK

The biopharmaceutical industry is laser focused on preventing diseases before they occur as opposed to solely treating diseases after they have been diagnosed. Prevention is a top priority because we know that getting ahead of a disease before it causes long term complications benefits everyone—patients, communities and our entire health care system.

This shift, from reactive treatment to proactive prevention, isn’t just better for health outcomes, it’s a smart investment that lowers costs by obviating the need for more expensive interventions down the road.

No stranger to this effort is Dr. Len Friedland, a pediatrician and Vice President and Director of Scientific Affairs and Public Health at GSK, whom I recently had the pleasure of interviewing to discuss how our industry should be thinking about prevention, vaccination and fighting antimicrobial resistance, just to name a few. As highlighted in GSK’s company story, their company –– and our industry as a whole –– is dedicated to using prevention to get ahead of disease.

Here are some highlights from our discussion:

• Vaccines and vaccination continue to transform health care:
  • Dr. Friedland and I both attended the recent CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) meeting to hear about what’s on the horizon for vaccines. We’re really in the golden age of vaccine innovation that’s reshaping what we can do with vaccines, not just for children but for adults too. In fact, much of the discussion at ACIP centered around adult vaccination, including vaccines for conditions like pneumococcal disease and RSV that can impact older populations.
  • As an emergency physician, I’ve seen firsthand how preventive interventions can transform lives. Respiratory seasons, particularly during the winter, are demanding on the health care system. We typically see a surge of cases of individuals with respiratory illness between Thanksgiving and Easter. Vaccines like the one for RSV can mean fewer hospitalizations and less strain on resources—a benefit that touches every level of health care. I think about the diseases I learned about early on in medical school, many of which we rarely see anymore, thanks to the power of vaccines.

• Shifting from a sickness system to a prevention system:
  • Preventing chronic diseases and treating chronic conditions early on in the course of patients’ illness with targeted interventions to slow their progression requires a comprehensive approach, including regular monitoring, patient education and access to resources that support healthy lifestyle changes. All together, these interventions enable patients to take control of their health and avoid unnecessary hospital visits, complications and the decline in quality of life that often comes with unmanaged conditions.
  • “We talk about how we have a health care system—in many ways, we have a sickness system. We really need to shift the focus to what we can do to prevent disease and also modulate disease to help people live healthier, longer lives.” - Dr. Len Friedland

• Tackling antimicrobial resistance (AMR) through prevention:
  • One area where vaccines have untapped potential is in the fight against AMR. When we have the ability to prevent infections from occurring, we also limit the need for antibiotics ––either appropriate antibiotics, or inappropriate antibiotic prescribing which we often see in respiratory virus season –– which helps curb the spread of resistant strains.

• Addressing health equity and accessibility in prevention:
  • The pandemic underscored major gaps in access to preventive care and highlighted the urgency of addressing health equity. We learned a lot from the pandemic, but we have a long way to go. What we do know is that targeted, community-based interventions are effective ways of meeting people where they are at. Ensuring people have access to vaccinations is particularly important, which is why programs like Vaccines for Children are important.

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If there is one thing I took away from this conversation with Dr. Friedland, it's that prevention is the best medicine. The diseases we face today don’t have to be the diseases we live with tomorrow. With ongoing innovation and collaboration, we’re building a health care ecosystem that’s smarter, more resilient and more focused on keeping people healthy.