First Post: Affordable, safe health care is an urgent need; use political will to boost innovation in pharma
Bejon Misra, founder of Partnership for Safe Medicines (PSM) India

“…[The] changing burden of disease [in India], from communicable to non-communicable, can only be countered by ensuring affordable and effective health care at the community level. For this, we need to intensify drug innovation and focused disease research in the country, in parallel with health insurance [coverage] for all [and] advancements in drugs and devices[, which] is key to bringing far-reaching benefits to patients, because it helps improve health care systems and benefits the economy by enabling patients’ access to improved cures. … Taking leads from increased political will, the time is right to align and intensify our efforts towards increasing pharma innovation in the country. At the same time, it is critical to increase health insurance to cover medicines. … With improved economic prosperity, social mobility, [a] growing segment of prescription drugs, and increased access to advanced health care, we are perfectly placed to leverage the global drive in biopharmaceutical research and develop a dynamic ecosystem that delivers effective and affordable treatment to all” (8/3).