A panel of experts in the life sciences sector gathered this week at Indiana University to discuss ways to discuss the health and economic benefits of medical innovation.Among the participants was Debra Lappin, president of the Council for American Medical Innovation.She says she's had first-hand experience with cutting edge medical technology, which led to the development of a drug to treat a rhuematic illness that forced her to go on disability."This is a drug that was developed through years of basic research, moving that research through translation into an actual product. I inject it every week, it costs $1,500 a month. And one of the new questions before all of us is what is the value to society to my returning to work, of a drug such as this?"Lappin and her colleagues say the region and the country stand to lose if officials don't find ways to nurture medical innovation and the jobs it creates.She says governments need to offer additional tax credits and other incentives to keep the expertise and its economic benefits from moving overseas.
Rick Howlett was midday host and the host of LPM's weekly talk show, "In Conversation." He was with LPM from 2001-2023 and held many different titles, including Morning Edition host, Assignment Editor and Interim News Director. He died in August 2023. Read a remembrance of Rick here.