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Building the Future of Global Health: Big Tech’s Big Ideas

Ira Pastor, ideaXme longevity and aging ambassador and founder of Bioquark interviews Luba Greenwood J.D., Strategic Business Development and Corporate Ventures, Verily (Google Life Sciences), Board Member Mass Bio and Brooklyn ImmunoTherapeutics LLC.

Note: Following this interview, Verily announced a major set of collaborations with big pharma companies, further executing on its strategy in healthcare. Breaking news: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/20/alphabet-verily-doing-clinic…T4eLzIucEI

Ira Pastor comments:

In 2019 we have surpassed $7 trillion in total annual healthcare expenditures around the globe. As part of that $7 trillion, we’re now spending close to a $1 trillion a year on pharmaceutical products, $350 billion on medical devices, $200 billion on new Life Sciences R&D. Equally fascinating to note are the names of organizations becoming involved in this space in 2019.

From a U.S. centric perspective, 15 years ago when evaluting.
Healthcare Clinic, the first thing that would come to mind would be Kaiser Permanente; not Apple;
Medical Devices, Baxter or Medtronic; not Amazon would come to mind.
Pharmaceuticals, you would think Merck, Pfizer, Novartis, etc.; Not Google / Alphabet Inc. and their Calico longevity drug development initiatives.

Yet in the last couple years alone, these big tech companies have all made major strategic moves into health care, with the goal of using their Silicon Valley-honed skills (and major piles of cash) to try and disrupt the industry with various “moon shot” thinking, and the interests of these companies are really quite diverse from their core businesses.

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