APMI’s first video features interviews with a patient, a researcher and a biotechnology CEO discussing the impact of a debilitating disease and the meaning of medical innovation
Washington, DC—Today, the Alliance to Protect Medical Innovation released its first in a series of videos, A Case for Innovation: Sickle Cell. The video provides firsthand accounts of one patient’s experience living with sickle cell disease and the work being done by Global Blood Therapeutics, Inc., or GBT, a biotechnology company, to treat this debilitating illness.
“This video tells the amazing story of what sickle cell patients endure and how researchers are working tirelessly to develop breakthrough treatments for a once-overlooked disease,” said Patrick O’Connor, executive director of the Alliance to Protect Medical Innovation. “The personal stories remind us how committed this industry is to develop the next generation of innovative medicines, what those breakthroughs mean to patients suffering from debilitating diseases, what is at risk if uninformed policy decisions are made and what is at risk with uninformed policy changes.”
In the video, GBT CEO Ted Love, M.D., explains why he is so committed to developing new treatments for sickle cell disease and what he thinks the future holds for those patients. “The U.S. has done an amazing job leading in innovation in healthcare, and I’d like to see the U.S. keep that advantage,” Dr. Love says in the video. “Rare diseases are particularly special to me, because they have not gotten the attention that they deserve.”
The U.S. is currently in the midst of a biopharmaceutical revolution. Research that began a generation ago is finally paying dividends, with the introduction of new treatments and cures for a range of once-untreatable diseases and chronic illnesses. U.S. biopharmaceutical companies are developing more new medicines than the rest of the world combined. Many innovative new medicines dramatically reduce the long-term costs of managing diseases or chronic illnesses.
The Alliance to Protect Medical Innovation is a nonpartisan group committed to preserving the pipeline of breakthrough medicines that reduce costs within the health-care system and help people live longer, healthier, and more productive lives. The Alliance receives funding from biopharmaceutical companies and other entities that represent the industry.