Adding the Fuel of Interest to the Power of Genius

Day II of the IFPMA Assembly offered a pastiche of pithy policy pensées.

John Lechleiter (President and CEO, Eli Lilly & Company) spoke on the urgency of making healthcare more personal. A few points from his remarks:

* “The free market hasn’t failed — it just hasn’t been given a chance to work as it should.”

* “With critics of the U.S. system pointing to Europe and other countries for reform guidance — in the past decade, nearly every European country has introduced market-oriented reforms — and has turned to the private sector in their efforts to reduce the health costs of treatments.”

* “We need to build a consumer-driven system — one that instills a sense of personal ownership … and puts the individual consumer in charge of how health care dollars are spent — through such mechanisms as health savings accounts.”

* “Transparency is the lubrication that makes consumer-driven healthcare work.”

* "We need to restructure the system so it is patient-centered … where health care providers, payers, regulators, and innovators work together to answer a single question: What is best for the individual patient?”

* “In a patient-centered system, individuals bear primary responsibility for their own health. And physicians help patients recognize incentives for healthier living … and act as agents on their behalf. In this system, providers compete on value and are measured on quality.”

* “We must build a system that promotes universal access, not by mandate but through free-market solutions that maximize coverage and improve access.”

* “In 2007 — for the first time — we offered U.S. employees consumer-driven options: HSA/HRA. About one-third of employees opted for a health savings account or a health reimbursement account.”

* “This year, roughly two-thirds of enrolled employees — including moi — and dependents chose one of these options. By 2010, our company will offer only consumer-driven options for our active employees.”

Lechleiter’s full remarks can be found here.

In his keynote address, IFPMA President Fred Hassan (whose day job is Chairman and President of Schering-Plough), shared that the IFPMA will commence a global communications effort on the value of IP. And while he didn’t say that IP is a human right, he came very close – pointing out all of the good that solid intellectual property right protection affords civil society. He also quoted Abraham Lincoln (a popular thing in Washington, DC these days), saying that intellectual property rights “add the fuel of interest to the passion of genius.”

Bravo.

Hassan also noted that the IFPMA is going to field a study to determine its image and level of influence in Geneva. (Note to Fred: If you have to ask …)

Rich Bagger (SVP, Worldwide Public Affairs & Policy, Pfizer) was the only speaker to consistently refer to his company as being in the “life sciences” business. Why is this so hard for everyone else to remember ?

One of Rich’s themes was “new roads to access.” And he offered a very early yet tantalizing example – Pfizer’s partnership with the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh (yes – the one run by Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus). Pfizer and Grameen are developing a “micro health insurance model” along the lines of Grameen’s well-known micro-credit programs. According to Bagger, a policy might cost $20/month of which $3 would go towards pharmaceutical coverage. That’s consumer-driven healthcare LDC style – and a program that the world’s largest life sciences company should talk about publicly, proudly and often.

Ladies and Gentlemen – the frost is on the pumpkin and it’s time to get to work.