The Healthcare Innovation Bubble: Making the Most of the COVID 19 Crisis

In many ways, it is the best of times for those among us who are interested in transforming American health care. With the emergence of COVID19, there is deep, broad recognition of our deeply fractured system of healthcare and public health and the long road ahead to improve on it. The question is no longer whether we should strengthen our healthcare infrastructure but how.

For the first time, we have broad recognition of both the power of American medical science and, also, its limitations. Whatever we think about the current science and the state of treatment for COVID19 there is growing and broad appreciation of the importance of the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and vaccine industries, where public sentiment previously biased towards scorn. For a change, we are waiting with breath for the output of their work, not debating pricing and effectiveness. Whether Gilead’s remdesivir and other therapies prove miraculous or incremental, we are grateful that they exist and for the chance they give us.