Pharma

Morning Read: No quick fix for pharma’s R&D problem, execs say

Current medical news from today, including pharma execs weighing in on R&D repair, frugal innovation gaining momentum and user fee bill heading to the Senate.

Fixing the pharma industry’s broken R&D labs requires patience and long-term vision, according to reps from two big companies in the industry. This Forbes report covers a panel on the topic at a recent conference hosted by Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Jack Scannell. Pharma’s long business cycle requires patience on the part of leadership, said Sean Bohen, head of early R&D for Genentech, so companies that try to reorganize quickly or often aren’t allowing themselves time to see if the changes are really working. Novo Nordisk CSO Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen added that his company focuses on thinking about it in terms of decades, not months or years.

Is “frugal innovation” the future of healthcare? Reuters reports on a trend toward medical products that can be used by less skilled workers as a way to save money.

The FDA user fee reauthorization bill heads to the Senate after being passed in the House on Wednesday. It’s expected to reach a final vote next week.

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Eye diseases, especially diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration, are on the rise in the U.S. According to the group Prevent Blindness America and the National Eye Institute, as vision problems have increased, funding for research and education has dipped.

A new analysis of weight loss procedures found that less-invasive surgeries resulted in fewer complications, shorter hospital days and fewer deaths.