WSJ to Biotech: "You're All Going To Die." Thanks - Now Let's Keep Fighting. - Forbes
"Friday’s WSJ features a brutally – I mean
brutally — frank
article
about the dismal state of biotech financing. There are few revelations
(certainly not for those readers of this column who I know follow the
space closely), and unfortunately, few patches of sunlight. This
clip from
Play It Again, Sam pretty much captures the tone.
The crisis in financing is having a chilling effect on biomedical innovation. As discussed in my last
column,
the main problem in our industry is that the sheer cost of drug
development has become almost prohibitively expensive, effectively
pricing almost everyone but the largest companies out of the market............"
"..........In the land of digital health, I also
worry
that there are a lot of developers who I don’t think really understand
the gravitas of illness and disease. For many of these folks, wellness
is best envisioned as a fun and entertaining diversion, one that should
be pursued with enthusiasm and characterized by delight. Yet this whole
idea of “gamefication” – while obviously both popular and fundable –
doesn’t really connect with so much of what I’ve
seen as a physician (and you don’t have to be a physician to understand the distinction – clearly,
Jamie Heywood is an it-getter).
Perhaps when you’re 22, wellness is a game, but for most of the
patients I recall in internal medicine, it really was anything but;
patients have very serious, often existential concerns about their
health, and about their ability to work and to provide. What these
patients want, expect, and deserve is serious engagement – and not some
dipshit app........."