Insights

FKH has been working with Idis (see case study here) for the past 4 years to help educate audiences and raise awareness of the benefits of expanded access programs (EAPs). EAPs enable patients who have exhausted all other options to potentially gain access to drugs prior to their approval or launch, in full compliance with regulatory guidelines.

FKH has been a pioneer in the personalized medicine space since 2003 when we founded a special practice in this area to address the opportunities that would transform every sector in healthcare The dizzying advances in technology ($1,000 genome?) are now enabling policymakers to view personalized medicine as a potential solution to the economic crisis [...]

Susan Newberry Klees, Senior Consultant, FKH

I have just returned from TEDMED, a gravity force field for the latest innovations in medical technology and healthcare problem solving. The conference was part poetry slam and part innovation speed dating for the 800 or so leaders in medicine that attended. The conference (more on that terminology in [...]

Exciting news about FKH leadership: following six years as Managing Director and COO, Craig Martin becomes the firm’s CEO and will drive the firm’s strategy for serving the entire continuum of the healthcare sector. Marcia Kean, following 9 years as CEO during which FKH almost quadrupled in size, becomes Chairman, Strategic Initiatives, expanding Feinstein Kean’s long-standing leadership among the innovators whose the ‘disruptive’ technologies and ideas are changing the landscape in healthcare.

Marcia has kept FKH ahead of the curve for the past 25 years, and we’re excited as Craig leads the firm into its next phase of growth. More info.

In the age of molecularly-subgrouped patient populations, drug innovators are facing the challenge of how to identify and recruit enough patients with the right genetic profile. At the same time, patients are seeking more meaningful roles in the entire research process, and have realized that their greatest asset is themselves and their data – both clinical and genomic.

Such collaborations do not come easy, of course. The two groups come together with different cultures, mindsets, time schedules, and resources. At the end of the day, though, they share a common goal: moving as swiftly and effectively as possible towards safe and effective therapeutics that dramatically improve patient outcomes.

As part of the personalized medicine track at the 14^th BioFlorida Annual Conference, Marcia Kean is chairing a panel discussion with Robert McBurney, CEO of Accelerated Cure Project for Multiple Sclerosis and Bill Tulskie, CEO & CTO of HealthCare IT, Inc., entitled “Partnering with Patient Advocacy Groups in Driving Medical Innovation”. The panelists will illuminate new models for collaboration that may accelerate discovery and development of personalized therapeutics, as well as changing in far-reaching ways the dynamics of the patient relationship with drug innovators. Attendees will also see a live demonstration of the online tools now available to facilitate such partnerships.

Come hear about collaboration, 21^st century-style.

As digital technology, genomics and patient empowerment converge, everything changes about the way consumers and organizations interact. Marcia Kean and Craig Martin discuss the evolution of communications from a “carefully controlled one-way street” to a “six-lane rotary”, and the things to remember when you connect stakeholders in today’s dynamic healthcare marketplace.

During the past decade there have been tremendous advances in science, innovation, technology, communications, and patient engagement. More than 100 thought leaders, representing all sectors of the life-sciences industry, name the biggest trends in the last 10 years and predict what’s on the horizon in the future. Click here and turn to pages 42 and 44 to read Marcia Kean’s contributions.

From nanopores to nanoballs, DNA sequencing technologies have come a long way in speed and cost since the Sanger, or dideoxy chain termination method, used for the Human Genome Project. Such rapid innovation has driven companies to compete in a highly visible race to sequence an entire human genome for $1,000 vs. the $3 billion cost of the first human genome.

As the drive toward global adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) gains momentum, the need for provider organizations to leverage these expensive investments gains importance. American Recovery and Reinvestment Act payments represent a short-lived financial benefit. Where, however, are the more-significant opportunities to transform care and generate significant long-term value from EHR investments?

If personalized medicine is ever going to be realized, it needs to address far more than scientific hurdles. The collaborative model that is solving the science needs to applied just as rigorously in communications between and among all stakeholders.