Week in Review: Collaboration for Patient Progress

Ryan Hohman of Friends of Cancer Research authored a guest post this week that echoed our own thoughts stating, “Open collaboration is often the best route to innovation and improved outcomes for patients.”

We strongly believe the biopharmaceutical sector is more than just an industry – it’s a community.  Every day we work with companies, organizations and—most importantly—patients to help them live healthier, happier lives. It is through these collaborations that we fuel innovation and get closer to finding treatments for the world’s most devastating diseases, and this week we highlighted examples of this collaborative work and the progress being made for patients.

On Monday, we proudly supported the Ruesch Center for the Cure of Gastrointestinal Cancers’ discussion on the present state and future promise for GI cancer patients. The event brought together industry stakeholders, many of whom have been personally affected by the disease, to discuss ongoing public-private initiatives and the 150 treatments currently in the pipeline. Together, we hope to help raise awareness and continue the cycle of innovation to make a difference for current and future patients.

Collaboration is critical to innovation, especially given the incredibly high cost to bring a new medicine to market. The Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development released a new report that addressed just how high the R&D costs are – they have doubled over the past decade to $2.6 billion – and failing to work together and share information and progress will only increase those development costs. One example is the Lung-MAP, collaboration between stakeholders that aims to put patients at the center of the clinical trial equation. Doing this makes it easier for researchers to find compatible patients and enables better access to the medicines they need.

It is studies and conversations such as these that inspire hope and facilitate collaboration that ultimately benefits patients. We hope to see more stakeholders coming together in the coming months and years so more progress can continue. Check back in with The Catalyst and follow us on Facebook and Twitter for news about the industry and how we’re working together.