The future of genetics looks bright
What’s the future of genetic diagnostics? Where do the commercialization opportunities exist? Now we know.
On June 22, the Ontario Genomics Institute and MaRS Future of MedicineTM jointly held “Dx2010: Markers to Markets” – a workshop focused on best practices and regulatory considerations for developing gene-based diagnostic and prognostic tests.
Let's raise kids to be entrepreneurs
One of the forces behind 1-800-GOT-JUNK?, Cameron Herold was a born entrepreneur. From the age of seven, he was experimenting with ways to make money – from negotiating the price of coat hangers returned to dry cleaners to doing comic book arbitrage by buying comics cheap from the poor kids and selling them for higher prices to the rich ones.
Each business venture taught him business lessons. By selling comic books he learned to buy low and sell high. Other ventures reinforced the value of recurring revenue and how much easier it is to return regularly to the same customers rather than finding new ones.
Health care in the US
President Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) on March 23, 2010. This landmark legislation marks the greatest change in the provision of health care in the US in over half a decade and it will allow insurance coverage for the first time to millions of low-income Americans.
Biotech, pharma, medical device, health IT and insurance companies are all watching carefully to see what the future implications will be to their operations in the world’s largest market. Some have already slashed earnings estimates (Abbott, Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly, Gilead) due to the requirement to offer higher price rebates for government-funded health plans under the Act.
Television: Now with 100% more social web!
TV: it’s not just on TVs anymore! It’s no surprise that viewers are using different devices to watch.
Do you ever watch television and surf the net at the same time? Then you might already be sharing your thoughts about TV programs on social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter. Social TV, through which people exchange opinions about the content, is a fast-growing trend.
Health care reform involves more than laws
Bloomberg.com has posted a particularly moving account of the struggles of US cancer patient Terence Foley in his battle with a rare form of kidney cancer.
One striking statistic – the total cost of his treatment was $$618,616.
The article raises questions about the economics of health care, the way highly-priced anti-cancer agents are selected for use against rare cancers and discussion of whether the cost was justified by the results. Read this moving story here.
