Better Science, Better Health
“Better Science, Better Health” was established by Vital Transformation to facilitate international collaboration in new clinical regulatory pathways, sources of evidence, and harnessing real world data to improve the access of needed new medicines by patients.
“Better Science, Better Health” provides a unique opportunity for international thought leaders to engage directly in these initiatives around the world, while also bringing new relevant voices into the process.
“Better Science, Better Health” has three core areas of focus:
- Harnessing real world evidence for better decision-making and create better patient outcomes
- Implementing new development pathways and evidence generation to improve access to needed new therapies for patients
- Developing best practices, successes, and opportunities for the integration of patient data and analytics to identify new medicines
Latest Events
Early Bird: Ever closer Union for cancer patients? How to facilitate access to clinical trials across borders
7 February 2022, 8.30-9.00 CET
Participating in a clinical trial for a new medicine can be the ultimate hope for cancer patients. However, access to clinical trials across borders often remains challenging, even in the European Union: patients are vulnerable and often face high costs, language and cultural challenges, and patients and clinicians must deal with additional legal uncertainties.
The good news is that there is broad consensus amongst European institutions, researchers and their networks, and cancer patients that enabling patients’ access to clinical trials across borders is important. Also, and at just one year old, Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan presents an opportunity to facilitate cross-country clinical trials.
Considering the political will and momentum in Europe, what are practical challenges for patients and researchers to enable more cross-border participation? How can Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan facilitate better legislative, administrative, and regulatory frameworks? What are best practices that can help to find solutions fast enough for patients in need of access to treatments now?
Webinar: Climate and Health – why should policymakers and the public be concerned?
23 November
With the global temperatures on the rise and increasing climate instability, what will be the impact on health? How can society best respond now to future challenges that both address the economic realities of climate change and anticipate any demands that may be placed upon public health systems which are already under severe strain due to demographic shifts and aging populations.
Natural experiments of the impact of enforced rapid reduction in economic activity and reduced pollution are being seen in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Topics to be considered in the webinar include impacts of planned efforts to limit climate change on financial health and thus funding for healthcare; increasing need for emergency support for floods and associated epidemics; health effects of forced migration; and climate change, pollution and health. Reducing global warming via less pollution would reduce risks of communicable diseases and non- communicable diseases, including cancers. What evidence on health benefits of limiting climate change would lead to a change in policy?
Webinar: Equity and Outcomes, Ensuring Fair Access to Healthcare
28 September 2021, 4pm UK
Life expectancy is generally on the increase, including healthy life expectancy. New treatments that have greatly improved the chance of survival following the diagnosis of life-threatening diseases.
However, comparisons of survival rates reveal striking differences among countries for cancers, cardiovascular disorders and other serious non-communicable and communicable diseases, even between countries with a similar GDP. What are the reasons for these differences and, more importantly, what are the best ways to address them?
The aim of the session is to raise awareness among health policy makers, clinical and biotechnology, health professionals, academics and interested public and patients about gaps and needs for equity in health outcomes and fair access to healthcare.
Latest News
H.R. 3’s international reference pricing misses the mark
By Susan Peschin and Duane Schulthess, April 28, 2021
The White House and Congress have declared that reining in Medicare prescription drug costs to help older adults and people with disabilities is a top priority. But one drug pricing strategy on the table would have an outsized negative impact on people with Alzheimer’s disease and decimate research trying to find effective treatments for it.
This strategy, known as international reference pricing, ties the price that Medicare pays for some drugs to those paid by other countries. The idea was first introduced as a model for Medicare Part B drugs by then-HHS Secretary Alex Azar in 2018. The next year, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s drug pricing plan, known as the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act (H.R. 3), significantly expanded the scope to allow federal government use of foreign price controls in direct negotiations with pharmaceutical companies for the cost of 250 prescription medicines in Medicare Part B and Part D. It also extended the negotiated price to insurers and the commercial market at large.
Belgium makes a U-turn on AstraZeneca jab in over-55s
Belgium is the latest European country to make a U-turn on the AstraZeneca vaccine, now recommending it for use in people over 55 years of age. The country's Superior Health Council said data from new, large-scale studies in the UK, which showed strong efficacy in older age groups "is reassuring at first sight," and deemed the jab safe and effective. Belgium was one of a handful of countries – including Germany, France and Italy – that limited the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine last month, despite the European Medicines Agency saying it was safe for anyone over the age of 18.
How Europe fell behind on vaccines
The European Union's vaccination effort came under fire just as it was beginning to deliver. Heralded for months as the flagship of European solidarity during the coronavirus pandemic, the European Commission’s strategy of joint vaccine procurement is now being accused by national leaders of being too bureaucratic, too limiting to its members, too slow.
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The Historical Impact of Price Controls on the Biopharma Industry
22 November 2021
By Duane Schulthess and Harry P. Bowen
With US congressional proposals now advocating in favor of government price setting for prescription medicines, the impacts of historical price setting in Europe provides a robust data source to test and predict the impact of price controls in the US on the biopharma ecosystem.
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