Panel
Breakthrough Medicine: Will Finding a Cure Be Just the Start of Saving Lives?
Milken InstituteLouise Perkins, Jill DeSimone, Omid Hamid, Daniel Hilferty, Gideon Bollig, Wyatt Decker
- Melanoma incidence is rising globally, with one fatality per hour in the U.S. and tens of thousands worldwide annually, though eight targeted treatments have been approved since 2011.
- Targeted therapies currently yield 70–80% benefits, while median survival has increased from six to eight months to nearly two years within a two-to-three-year timeframe, potentially shifting the disease into a chronic state.
- Despite high initial response rates from targeted therapies, relapse is nearly universal, whereas immunotherapy offers lower response percentages but more durable outcomes.
- Research funding models include up to $250,000 per screening pledge from IPREO and MRA donors, though high drug development costs threaten innovator viability.
- Regulatory bodies aim to compress the typical 10-to-12-year development timeline, with Vemurafenib demonstrating a rapid transition from first-in-human trials to approval over a decade ago.
- Clinical collaboration timelines average four months for preclinical contracts and one to two years for clinical collaborations.
- Genomic medicine integration is prioritized for immediate implementation, though full standardization of tumor sequencing for all patients at presentation is projected to take several to many years.
- Mayo Clinic aims to scale care from 1.3 million to 200 million patients by 2020 via partnerships, while Independence Blue Cross serves nearly 10 million people across 24 states and the District of Columbia.
- Independent Blue Cross plans to foster collaboration in chronic care contracting and initiatives over the next year, anticipating an industry-wide shift from acute to chronic care systems.
- Healthcare costs are predicted to reach 25% of GDP by 2025, with the diabetic population currently at 25 million and projected to affect an additional 25% of Americans by 2050 without intervention.
- Reducing the disease curve by 10% to 15% through real-time data and team approaches is considered a critical lever for managing the 15 million existing cancer survivors in the U.S.
- Center of excellence clinical revenues are declining and NIH funding in real dollars is decreasing, while small group practices on the East Coast, Midwest, and Florida are disappearing due to financial management challenges.
- Innovation funding faces headwinds from reduced clinical revenues and NIH cuts, necessitating reliance on partnerships and streamlined FDA processes to maintain progress.