Perspectives

As we enter this new decade, it behooves us to both appreciate and laud advances that have been made in Oncology over the past thirty years, to critically assess the missteps, and to boldly envision the tremendous successes we can surely expect and those we may bravely hope for if all we stakeholders, from industry to academia to government to NGOs can collectively move boldly, take risks, think out of the box, balance incremental with exponential innovation, at all times putting the patients first.

Healthcare brands need some new terminology and new models argues Giles Lury in his thinking piece for pharmaphorum. He suggests much of the current terminology for target audiences is no longer really fit for purpose and that too many of the maps are still rooted in old fashioned FMCG thinking.

I often find myself cringing when I use the industry-accepted word “rare” to describe a condition or disease. As a patient advocate, I find this term to be insensitive, misleading, and at times even a little cruel.

All in, planning the hackathon took five months. In post-event debriefs among the H.A.C. MBC committee, three overarching themes for hosting a successful hackathon emerged: