CHIPS JOINT UNDERTAKING
CHIPS JOINT UNDERTAKING LAUNCH CHIPS JOINT EVENT UNDERTAKING LAUNCH EVENT 30 NOVEMBER - 1 DECEMBER BRUSSELS 30 NOVEMBER - 1 DECEMBER BRUSSELS Health in a post-pandemic EU BY ALEJANDRO TAUBER NO NO As this magazine goes to press, the World Health Organisation has registered just shy of seven million global deaths due to COVID-19. WITHOUT WITHOUT It also has registered over 13.5 billion doses of vaccines administered. This is an astonishing feat, especially given that these vaccines did not exist a mere three years ago. In June of this year, New York Times journalist David Wallace-Wells, who did fantastic health reporting throughout the pandemic, wrote an article titled ‘Suddenly, It Looks Like We’re in a Golden Age for Medicine.’ In a newspaper normally not given to hyperbole, he describes the advent of a whole new wave of pharmaceutical innovation that might drastically change our relationship with diseases over the next couple of decades. Just take mRNA vaccines, which were so successfully used to push back the coronavirus, and the potential offered by the precise engineering of genetic material to combat illness. Currently, mRNA vaccines are being developed to fight some of the most deadly infectious diseases on the planet; from malaria to H.I.V., to dengue, zika and tuberculosis. The same method is also showing promising results against certain types of cancers. The better understanding of disease pathways is also leading to scores of new drugs, some of which seem to be performing at previously unimaginable efficacy. Targeted chemotherapy against certain types of breast cancer have extended life expectancy by one hundred percent. A small group of patients receiving a new drug that fights rectal cancer were actually cured. And then we haven’t even gotten into developments in gene therapy, which could be a life-saver for people with single-gene mutations, drugs that effectively treat obesity and preventive detection methods. In this magazine, we take a look at some of these developments, and why there is reason for hope on many fronts – while at the same time also exploring new health risks due to climate change, shifting demographics and future pandemics. When it comes to health, it’s truly an extraordinary period to be alive. And to stay alive, if all works out as it seems to be doing. 3
