We need to make sure that access to a curative drug doesn't become a yardstick by which poverty is eventually measured. Doing so requires a shared commitment between innovators and the insurance plans that are harder pressed to offer these advances to the poor.
Interpretation
Access to essential medicines should not be determined by wealth, highlighting the need for both innovation and equitable insurance coverage.
In this quote, Scott Gottlieb emphasizes the importance of ensuring that access to life-saving medications is not dictated by one's financial status. He warns against treating the availability of curative drugs as a measure of poverty and advocates for collaboration between innovators in the pharmaceutical industry and insurance providers to ensure that these vital advancements reach those who are economically disadvantaged.
In practice
This quote could be used in a discussion about healthcare policy at a community meeting.
Science offers the chance to cure debilitating and once-intractable disorders like hemophilia and sickle cell disease. But we need to make sure the ability to access these therapies, or the risk that someone can be locked out of them, doesn't widen gaps between the rich and poor.
It is true that some off-label drug use is based on very unsettled science and has more risks. But medicine - and not just cancer care - involves lots of hard choices. And the more serious the disorder, often the more likely it is that for every right and wrong treatment choice there are many other practical decisions painted in shades of gray.
In fast moving fields like cancer, where doctors tailor treatments based on evidence that's constantly evolving, two years can be an eternity of waiting to learn about important science. For some patients, that interval can be fatal.
...This large and expensive stock of drugs will be unnecessary. By...doses of...medicines...multiplying...combining them properly, 20 to 30 articles, aided by the common resources of the lancet, a garden, a kitchen, fresh air, cool water, exercise, will be sufficient to cure all the diseases that are at present under the power of medicine.
I feel like I've set the example for loving your body no matter what size it is, but I also can set the example for being healthy as well.
If you take care of your body, it'll take care of you.
Exercise is king. Nutrition is queen. Put them together and you've got a kingdom.
I am living proof that if you catch prostate cancer early, it can be reduced to a temporary inconvenience, and you can go back to a normal life.
Working out is modern couture. No outfit is going to make you look or feel as good as having a fit body. Buy less clothing and go to the gym instead.
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