FutureTech Panelists Debate the Future of DNA-Based Technology
Neela Moorty, MBA 2, and Dora Yung, MBA 1
Issue date: 2/7/05 Section: News
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On Friday, January 28, four panelists engaged approximately 50 students and FuturTech attendees in a discussion on the potential impact innovations in personalized medicine may have on the future of health care. According to Liz Barry, Managing Director of the Life Sciences Institute at the University of Michigan and panel moderator, "DNA intelligence is the new capital for the healthcare marketplace."
Ted Snelgrove (MBA '89), Vice President of marketing at Genomic Health (Redwood City, California), shared insight on how the pre-IPO start-up company is forging its way into the frontiers of personalized medicine. According to Snelgrove, Genomic is applying discoveries in the human genome by developing technologies aimed at better assessing the reaction of breast cancer patients to various drugs.
Fred Byerlin, CEO of Ann Arbor-based Rubicon Genomics, articulated the primary goal of personalized medicine. It is to "get the right drug to the right patient at the right time, with minimal side effects and a realistic price." Mr. Beyerlin believes that the realization of such a scenario would contribute significantly to a much more efficient healthcare industry.
Sharing a novel analogy, Dr. Edward Pagani, Senior Director of Strategic Alliances and Site Head of Pfizer Michigan Laboratories, shed light on the issues characteristic of the U.S. health care industry. Dr. Pagani compared attempting to provide health care in this country to fixing a set of individualized computers. In the analogy, health care industry stakeholders were represented by various groups of hardware "specialists" with limited ability to identify the problems specific to each computer and which machines would benefit from existing solutions. Dr. Pagani also assured audience members that large health care companies will increasingly embrace opportunities to market innovations in personalized medicine.
To round out the expert panel, Dr. Mark Fendrick, a physician and joint professor at the Univeristy of Michigan's Medical School and School of Public Health, enthusiastically shared his opinion on the topic. Dr. Fendrick believes that current complications within today's healthcare industry will ensure that innovations in personalized medicine are made accessible to the American people in the future. Focusing on how the industry could ensure greater patient access to expensive medical innovations, Dr. Fendrick challenged the audience to consider a paradigm shift in which health care companies prioritize the development and marketing of health care innovations based on value.
In bringing together a diverse set of perspectives on innovations in personalized medicine, FuturTech 2005's healthcare panel provided a healthy dose of "medicine for thought" on how the audience, and America, will think about healthcare in the future. The panel was co-sponsored by the Healthcare and Life Science Club (HLS). HLS encourages those interested in learning more about personalized medicine to consider enrolling in the Personalized Medicine course to be taught by Professors Elizabeth Barry and William Hall in fall 2005 at the Ross School of Business.
Ted Snelgrove (MBA '89), Vice President of marketing at Genomic Health (Redwood City, California), shared insight on how the pre-IPO start-up company is forging its way into the frontiers of personalized medicine. According to Snelgrove, Genomic is applying discoveries in the human genome by developing technologies aimed at better assessing the reaction of breast cancer patients to various drugs.
Fred Byerlin, CEO of Ann Arbor-based Rubicon Genomics, articulated the primary goal of personalized medicine. It is to "get the right drug to the right patient at the right time, with minimal side effects and a realistic price." Mr. Beyerlin believes that the realization of such a scenario would contribute significantly to a much more efficient healthcare industry.
Sharing a novel analogy, Dr. Edward Pagani, Senior Director of Strategic Alliances and Site Head of Pfizer Michigan Laboratories, shed light on the issues characteristic of the U.S. health care industry. Dr. Pagani compared attempting to provide health care in this country to fixing a set of individualized computers. In the analogy, health care industry stakeholders were represented by various groups of hardware "specialists" with limited ability to identify the problems specific to each computer and which machines would benefit from existing solutions. Dr. Pagani also assured audience members that large health care companies will increasingly embrace opportunities to market innovations in personalized medicine.
To round out the expert panel, Dr. Mark Fendrick, a physician and joint professor at the Univeristy of Michigan's Medical School and School of Public Health, enthusiastically shared his opinion on the topic. Dr. Fendrick believes that current complications within today's healthcare industry will ensure that innovations in personalized medicine are made accessible to the American people in the future. Focusing on how the industry could ensure greater patient access to expensive medical innovations, Dr. Fendrick challenged the audience to consider a paradigm shift in which health care companies prioritize the development and marketing of health care innovations based on value.
In bringing together a diverse set of perspectives on innovations in personalized medicine, FuturTech 2005's healthcare panel provided a healthy dose of "medicine for thought" on how the audience, and America, will think about healthcare in the future. The panel was co-sponsored by the Healthcare and Life Science Club (HLS). HLS encourages those interested in learning more about personalized medicine to consider enrolling in the Personalized Medicine course to be taught by Professors Elizabeth Barry and William Hall in fall 2005 at the Ross School of Business.
