Collectively, rare diseases are not rare: For most of the more than 7000 rare disorders that are not detected by screening, obtaining an accurate diagnosis takes on average 6 years with an estimated associated cost of over $500,000 per patient over that time-period (everylifefoundation.org). Data analytics can accelerate diagnosis and more quickly provide patients and […]
The act came into force 1 August 2024 with a two-year implementation period. February 2, 2025 marks the next step in this implementation, prohibiting certain profiling and activities and mandating sufficient employee training. Is your AI system compliant? https://artificialintelligenceact.eu/ […]
I was happy to participate on the panel for an engaging event hosted by the Inselgruppe to educate about common health issues and current research. The themes of the discussion were reproductive medicine and health impacts of hormonal changes later in life, with a focus on menopause. Reproductive health affects all genders, and all women eventually […]
While the hype around AI is ubiquitous, there is a spectrum of cases demonstrating utility. Industry-wide across the life sciences the potential gains from applying AI to bring new medical products to market faster and improve patient care are recognized. This congress brought together pharmaceutical, biotech, medtech, academic, and other health care interests to present and […]
The Intelligent Health Congress once again brought together stakeholders from industry, health services, academia, patient advocacy groups, government agencies, and non-profit organisations to share and discuss experiences applying digital technologies to advance the health and life sciences. Some of the recurrent themes and take-home messages included: Date: September 11-12, 2024Location: Basel, Switzerland […]
The premature passing of rugby legend Rob Burrow as a consequence of motor neuron disease, one of far too many rare and not-so-rare incurable illnesses, is a reminder of how much remains to be done therapeutically to provide all people the chance at a reasonable quality and duration of life. Millions of people still suffer from […]
Tailored application of digital and technological advancements can generate novel solutions for gender-specific medical and health issues. The Tech4Eva event in Bern, Switzerland on the 13th of May, 2024, hosted by the EPFL Innovation Park and GroupeMutuel highlighted promising examples of how solutions to often-overlooked problems could have a transformative impact for individuals’ health and in […]
The pharmaceutical industry is enveloped in excitement around applying GenAI to accelerate drug discovery and introduction of new therapeutics to the market. As summarised by McKinsey & Co and others, AI implementation across life science domains from early research and discovery to clinical development and regulatory to operations, commercial, and medical affairs, to post-market surveillance […]
I attended the Avoiding Bias in AI Symposium hosted by the Center for AI in Medicine at the University of Bern on the 7th of March. In recognition of International Women’s Day, I am devoting this blog to highlighting the gender biases embedded in society and the vast quantities of data which are used to train advanced […]
By approving equal financing of medical treatments regardless of where the treatment takes place, the Swiss parliament has opened the door to considerable potential savings in health care provision while maintaining or improving quality, not by changing reimbursement amounts, but by aligning stakeholder interests conducive to efficiency and cost savings. SRF article: https://www.srf.ch/news/schweiz/einheitliche-finanzierung-das-parlament-wagt-die-grosse-gesundheitsreform By altering […]