Forbes’ Matthew Harper has written two recent, brilliant articles theorizing on the contribution leaders in technology could make to the pharmaceutical industry and sharing perspectives of two of its most powerful leaders as to why healthcare technology trails consumer technology in innovation.
With all the success in software, hardware and web applications, the innovation of the technology sector in the past two decades has not translated to medicine in the same way. With the recent passing of Apple Chairman & CEO Steve Jobs, society is reflecting on his contribution and wondering else he could made our world better.
Harper touches on how Jobs set out to rethink his bedside medical equipment in the hospital, using a sketchpad to suggest new designs. He also talks about the fundamental differences, in science, wealth, and social recognition, between technology and the life sciences industry.
In another expose, Harper was able to gather a different point of view, one from Jobs’ chief rival in the technology industry. Bill Gates’ unique and thoughtful perspective on the pharmaceuticals industry is fueled by his passion and commitment within it. As Harper points out, ‘fMove up Move down
ew outsiders have had as clear a view of the drug business as Gates’, with his foundation’s work tied to the likes of Merck, Pfizer, GSK, Sanofi-Aventis, and others.
Gates’ opinion is much more specific as he discusses pharmaceuticals, vaccines, targeted drug development, pipelines and megamergers. In the end, Gates understands wholly that the process of inventing new drugs and vaccines has gotten more complex. And, in a pointed summary, concludes that even more so in the life sciences industry ‘doing something new and different only gets harder’.
