Latest Interviews
Showing 16–24 of 24 transcripts.
Clear all filters- Milken Institute1h 1m
Prevention and Innovation for a Healthier Tomorrow | Global Conference 2024
Esther Krofah, Robert Bradway, David Feinberg, Karen Knudsen, Meena Seshamani
Representatives from CMS, the American Cancer Society, Oracle Health, and Amgen convened to address the U.S. healthcare system's inefficiencies, noting that while the sector consumes 20% of GDP, chronic disease prevalence and administrative friction continue to drive costs while outcomes remain misaligned. Key strategies outlined include shifting Medicare toward value-based care with a $2,000 prescription cap, leveraging AI tools like the Oracle Digital Clinical Assistant to reduce physician administrative burdens, and advocating for federal reimbursement of multi-cancer early detection to improve survival rates. The panelists reached a consensus that the current fragmented structure is impoding and requires fundamental structural reforms rather than incremental solutions to successfully integrate prevention, innovation, and data interoperability.
- Milken Institute1h 16m
Closing Gaps in Health and Health Care | Future of Health Summit 2023
Esther Krofah, AmirAli Talasaz, Susan Barlow, Meg Tirrell, Jaewon Ryu, Ashwin Vasan, Hubertus von Baumbach, Angela F. Williams, Ray Broughan, Bob Cramer, Diane Tai
The 2023 Milken Institute Future of Health Summit convened sector leaders to address the U.S. life expectancy decline and widening inequities despite record spending of over $4.1 trillion annually. Key initiatives announced include the Aging Innovation Collaborative with $3 million in seed funding, New York City's "Healthy NYC" strategy targeting premature death, and a renewed focus on shifting from fee-for-service models to preventive care through public-private partnerships. Experts emphasized that closing the gap requires an industrial health policy to align regulatory updates, leverage AI for early detection, and rebuild community trust through equitable data sharing and resource integration.
- Milken Institute1h 2m
Lessons Learned from COVID-19: Are There Silver Linings for Biomedical Innovation?
Esther Krofah, Francis Collins, Richard Moscicki, Ellen Sigal, Janet Woodcock
Hosted by Faster Cures, a webinar convened NIH officials and industry leaders to analyze the COVID-19 pandemic's acceleration of biomedical innovation, highlighting achievements such as the ACTIV partnership's master protocols and the RADx initiative's diagnostic scaling. The discussion detailed how the crisis forced a shift toward competitive collaboration, decentralized trials, and the successful achievement of diverse vaccine trial enrollment, while simultaneously exposing critical infrastructure gaps in clinical trial execution and real-world data integration. Panelists concluded with a consensus that emergency-driven reforms must be institutionalized through permanent policy changes and public-private partnerships to sustain preparedness for future health threats.
- Milken Institute1h 0m
In Search for a Cure: Are We Nearing a Treatment for COVID-19?
Dr Anthony Fauci, Albert Bourla, Esther Krofah, Meg Tirrell
Dr. Anthony Fauci and Pfizer executives outlined the current U.S. pandemic crisis, characterized by rising infections among young demographics and projected second-wave risks in the fall due to premature reopening and asymptomatic spread. While addressing safety protocols like sample pooling for testing and the inclusion of vulnerable populations in trials, Pfizer anticipates initiating Phase 3 trials in July with a potential vaccine rollout by late 2020 or early 2021. Simultaneously, clinical guidelines have been updated to include dexamethasone for severe cases, though experts emphasize that continued public health measures remain essential until herd immunity is achieved.
- Milken Institute27 min
A Conversation with FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn
Dr. Hahn and the FDA are managing an unprecedented 250-treatment pipeline and 170 vaccine candidates while maintaining regulatory independence amid a surge in applications. The agency has authorized specific therapies like remdesivir and dexamethasone based on robust data analysis and is implementing clinical trial flexibilities to ensure diverse demographic inclusion. Despite the high stakes, FDA officials emphasize that safety and evidence-based decision-making remain paramount as they navigate supply chain logistics and monitor real-world outcomes for public health.
- Goldman Sachs14 min
From “The Way Forward" Conference: Esther Krofah, Executive Director, FasterCures
Faster Cures currently monitors over 200 SARS-CoV-2 therapeutic candidates and 163 vaccine prospects, with the majority of treatments in Phase 2 or 3 testing and key programs like Moderna's mRNA vaccine and the Oxford/AstraZeneca project advancing rapidly. While early data supports Remdesivir and convalescent plasma as partial solutions, experts anticipate effective cures will likely emerge from combination therapies and require Emergency Use Authorizations between fall 2020 and early 2021. Vaccine availability for frontline workers is targeted for late 2020, though the accelerated 12-to-18-month timeline relies on aggressive manufacturing scaling and successful clinical data readouts expected by autumn.
- Milken Institute35 min
How COVID-19 Tests Will Help Reopen America - Conference Call Series
Esther Krofah, Gina Raimondo, Adam Schechter
Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo outlined a strategic "SOS" testing framework and a phased economic reopening plan designed to expand daily testing capacity from 3,000 to 20,000 while prioritizing equity for vulnerable populations. LabCorp CEO Adam Schechter detailed the company's rapid scaling of PCR and antibody testing capabilities to 150,000 and 300,000 daily tests respectively, emphasizing high accuracy rates while noting that antibody presence does not yet guarantee immunity. Together, the state officials and industry leaders highlighted the critical role of contact tracing and continued safety protocols in preventing a combined flu and coronavirus surge in the fall.
- Goldman Sachs1h 2m
An Update on Therapies and Vaccines
Sharmin Mossavar-Rahmani, Dr. Richard Hatchett, Esther Krofah, Dr. Paul Stoffels
On April 14, 2020, Goldman Sachs CIO Wealth Management hosted Sharmin Mosavar-Rahmani for the eighth iteration of a COVID-19 series discussing the epidemiological landscape of nearly 2 million infections and 110,000 fatalities. Experts outlined a pipeline where effective therapies are expected within four to six months while vaccines leveraging platforms from CEPI and Johnson & Johnson may require 12 to 18 months, with potential emergency use by the first quarter of 2021. The call further detailed critical challenges regarding antibody test accuracy, the certainty of a second wave, and the necessity for aggressive surveillance and testing infrastructure to facilitate any safe economic reopening.
- Milken Institute56 min
Superbugs: Avoiding an Existential Threat to Humanity
Esther Krofah, Valeria Bortolaia, Ron Daniels, Peter Jackson, Peter Piot, Lance Price, Sneha Kemka
This analysis details the critical global escalation of antimicrobial resistance, which currently causes 700,000 annual deaths and threatens to reach 10 million by 2050 without urgent intervention. The event highlights a pharmaceutical market failure where major drug withdrawals have shifted innovation to undercapitalized SMEs, necessitating new economic incentives like the UK's pilot pull mechanism to fund R&D. Strategic solutions prioritize infection control, agricultural bans on growth promoters, and precision diagnostics to bridge the gap between scientific discovery and clinical application.