The Human Face Of Pharma
Even as the pharmaceutical industry is buffeted about by poor productivity, a skeptical public, and impatient investors, lives continue to depend on it in big and small ways, urgently or over time. People who depend on drugs for life itself, or whose loved ones are deathly sick, or whose livelihoods depend on the industry have a unique view of where the industry should go.
In this special Web-only feature, C&EN presents interviews with 17 individuals who have vastly varying points of view about the future of the pharmaceutical industry. They range from chemical scientists working in the industry to pharma bloggers to a soon-to-be graduate of medical school to patient advocates to teenagers with cancer.
The interviews poignantly reveal how the future of pharma is deeply personal to many people, including those who told C&EN what they hope—and sometimes what they dread—the future will hold for pharma. There is optimism, albeit tempered with stark reality, for many. For all, there is determination. These profiles aim to put a human face on pharma for C&EN's special issue of June 19, 2006, on the future of the pharmaceutical industry.
M. Gregg Bloche
Health law expert puts race-based treatments in perspective.
Diane Blum
Patient advocate says educated patients are the best consumers.
Colin Connors
Colorado teen and his mother face difficult disease with courage and optimism.
Virginia L. Cunningham
Chemist considers who is responsible for protecting the environment from pharmaceutical waste.
Clark Eid
Chemist sets his sights on improving quality of life while tracking elusive cures for a rare disease afflicting his child.
Christiane Farentinos
Drug abuse treatment expert laments the lack of doctors who will prescribe pharmaceuticals to treat addiction.
Alan Goldhammer
Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America official lays out industry group's concerns and ways to address them.
Matthew Holt
Blogger and health care consultant predicts mainstreaming of personalized medicine and guaranteed access to health insurance.
Mark Krueger
Pharmaceutical consultant helped the return to market of a drug that many feared.
Jacky Law
Journalist recommends investing in doctor-patient relationships.
Derek Lowe
Blogger and chemist foresees return to discovery the old-fashioned way.
Abbey S. Meyers
Patient advocate finds orphan drugs key to pharma's future.
Yavar Moghimi
Medical student vows to treat patients with drugs supported by the best clinical evidence, not carefully packaged advertising.
Amanda Pollak
Teen patient hopes targeted therapy will reduce havoc caused by cancer-killing chemotherapy.
Richard Rawson
Addiction treatment expert champions use of drugs to treat drug abuse.
Jane Sarasohn-Kahn
Health economist views information technology as key to innovation in health care.
Robert Temple
Food & Drug Administration official hopes greater use of genetics in deciding treatments will yield better outcomes.
