Esther Krofa
Showing 1–3 of 3 transcripts.
- Milken Institute1h 23m
Leading the Next Era of Health | Future of Health Summit 2025
Bertha Coombs, Joe Daly, Jeremy David, Shane Jacobson, Sarah London, Baligh Yehia, Esther Krofa
Hosted by the Milken Institute in Washington, the 2025 Future of Health Summit convened over 200 speakers to address urgent systemic challenges including rising costs, stagnant life expectancy, and a 10-point decline in public trust. The event highlighted critical interventions such as Dr. Jill Biden's new Women's Health Network, Centene's food-as-medicine data initiatives, and Jefferson Health's AI-driven physician support programs, while launching nine strategic publications on biomedical research. Key participants navigated complex tensions regarding AI's role in workflows, the need for new financing models for expensive therapies, and the precarious status of Affordable Care Act tax credits, ultimately urging leaders to leverage micro-level patient-clinician trust for future reform.
- Milken Institute55 min
Venture Philanthropy in Action: A Case Study of EB Research Partnership and ProQR
Kristin Schneeman, Michael Hund, Alex Silver, Daniel de Boer, Mark de Souza, Esther Krofa
In a 2020 webinar moderated by Michael Hund of the EB Research Partnership (EBRP), experts Alex Silver, Daniel DeBoer, and Mark D'Souza detailed EBRP's venture philanthropy model, which invests capital in for-profit enterprises to de-risk intellectual property in exchange for financial returns rather than traditional grants. The discussion highlighted a successful collaboration with ProQR Therapeutics that led to the rapid formation of Wings Therapeutics, a structure leveraging equity and milestone-based royalties to accelerate Epidermolysis Bullosa drug development by years. By prioritizing specialized legal counsel and strategic flexibility over standard nonprofit conventions, EBRP aims to catalyze over 30 clinical trials and shift rare disease treatment timelines from years to months while generating competitive financial returns.
- Milken Institute25 min
Wednesday Lunch feat. Bill Cassidy
Bill Cassidy, Esther Krofa, Dan Diamond
At the Milken Institute's Future of Health Summit, Senator Bill Cassidy and Faster Cures' Esther Krofa discussed strategies to balance drug affordability with the financial incentives required for medical innovation. Cassidy defended the pharmaceutical industry against claims of excessive profitability while advocating for subscription-based pricing models and rejecting direct government negotiation as a threat to high-risk research. The dialogue highlighted specific legislative successes in closing rebate loopholes and ending gag clauses, concluding with a realistic assessment that a comprehensive drug pricing bill has a 60% probability of enactment by year-end.