Putting Patients First

By Suresh Kumar

As I turn the page on 2017, I cannot help but reflect on a remarkable, yet vexing, journey through my years in healthcare. Much has been achieved, so much more needs to be done, and yet we have not marshalled or deployed all the resources available to us.

I vividly remember an early boss disagreeing with the cacophony of competitor names that emerged as the response to his question, “Who is our enemy?” He continued, “Our enemy is not competition, it is disease.” To combat disease, we have more medicines today than ever before, over 7,000 medicines are in development globally, and almost 1,000 of these are biologics. Between 1950 and 2000, lifespan increased from 48 to over 70 years, and in the last decade alone, lifespan in the developed world increased from 74.26 years to 76 years. Why then is our industry vilified? What are we not doing, or doing, to garner criticism?