Together, we have an opportunity to reimagine health—to not just treat sickness, but invest in keeping well.
GSK asked HLTH conference attendees about what they think about prevention
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opulations are ageing, chronic diseases are taking a greater toll than ever before, and infectious diseases are still spreading. All of this is creating unsustainable pressure on patients, health systems, and economies.
But too often, healthcare is focused on reactive treatment rather than prevention. At the moment, only around 5% of total health spending is dedicated to prevention in wealthy countries, meaning people live with diseases that could have been prevented or controlled earlier. The result: overburdened health services are left to deal with the consequences.
But what if the world were to take a different approach—with governments, industries, and innovators proactively working together to stop disease in its tracks?
British biopharma GSK believes that prevention is the best medicine. From building one of the world’s broadest vaccine portfolios to using the latest tech to find new ways to intervene earlier in the course of disease, prevention is a key focus across the business.
“Investing in prevention delivers better health outcomes, is cost-effective, and healthier people are better able to contribute to economies and societies at large,” says Maya Martinez-Davis, President of US Pharmaceuticals at GSK.
“There is a clear opportunity to shift from funding ‘sickness systems’ to investing in health—and it’s one we are urging decisionmakers to grasp.”
Maya Martinez-Davis, President of US Pharmaceuticals at GSK.
There is already a wealth of evidence to support the drive towards preventative healthcare. A report by global consultancy firm McKinsey suggested that for every $1 invested in improving health, an economic return of $2-4 is possible.
Research conducted by GSK at biotech conference, HLTH, last October showed that healthcare industry experts recognize the value of prevention.
At the conference, hosted in Las Vegas, GSK set up a giant interactive data wall to survey the 10,000 healthcare experts—including 2,500 CEOs—in attendance on what prevention means to them, and how best to get ahead of disease.
HLTH attendees agree that prevention is important to explore in the healthcare system
Almost a third of respondents voted that the most impactful actions policymakers can take to prevent disease is investing in early intervention. The importance of boosting individual and community health also came to the fore. Improving overall societal health to reduce risk of disease was seen as the most impactful action policymakers can take by 29% of respondents. Meanwhile, 26% of respondents voted for educating and enabling people to live healthier lifestyles, and 75% agreed that using new technologies to create novel treatments faster than ever before is ‘fundamental’.
Conference goers also believed that everything and everyone has a role to play in driving disease prevention. “Preventing disease is something we can only do together, which is something the experts that we surveyed at HLTH really seemed to agree with,” Martinez-Davis continues.
“At GSK, we do this by partnering with the very best talent in academia, biotech and tech, working with Nobel Prize-winners like Jennifer Doudna at the Laboratory for Genomics Research, and teaming up with AI experts at King's College London, to better understand how genetics can impact the risk of disease, and support clinical decision-making.
“More than ever, we believe that getting ahead of disease is the best investment—for patients, health systems and economies,” says Martinez-Davis.
“Together we have an opportunity to reimagine health – to not just treat sickness, but to invest in keeping people well.”
