April 20, 2005 Program Description

Program 2005

Date: April 20, 2005

Time: 3:00 p.m.

Place: St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, 86^th & Meridian, Indianapolis, IN

Speaker: Gino Santini, MBA, Sr. V.P. Corporate Strategy and Policy, Eli Lilly and Company

Topic: The Future of Medical Innovation

Pharmaceutical innovation contributed enormously to health care progress in the 20^th Century. Aided by recent advances in genomics, biotechnology, and informatics, pharmaceutical R&D may yield even greater breakthroughs against disease in the years ahead. This presentation will foreshadow some of the most promising lines of research.

Developing safe, effective drug treatments will remain extraordinarily difficult, time-consuming, and expensive, however. Few people – even among health-care professionals – understand the requirements of pharmaceutical innovation and the crucial role that private industry plays in bringing new therapies to patients who need them. The speaker will provide a concise overview of the pharmaceutical R&D process, and of the business model that makes it possible.

Effective prescription drugs have economic as well as therapeutic value. When used in an appropriate and timely manner, medicines can reduce or eliminate the need for much more expensive health-care interventions, including hospitalizations and long-term care. The presentation will examine the cost of prescription drugs in the context of overall health-care expenditures, and provide examples of the economic value of medicines.

Case managers – as front-line health-care professionals who understand the importance of patient compliance – can play a vital role in making sure that the people in their care get access to prescription medicines that they need, at a price that they can afford. This presentation will include practical information on some of the private and public options that exist to improve access to affordable medicines.