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  • COMMENT

Opportunities and challenges for innovative and equitable healthcare

An unprecedented number of potentially disruptive therapeutic technologies are under development. Forward-looking policies, incentives and infrastructure are needed to harness these advances to provide effective and globally equitable healthcare.
  1. David J. Ecker

    1. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Carlsbad, CA, USA.

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  2. Clarice D. Aiello

    1. University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.

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  3. Joseph R. Arron

    1. 23andMe Therapeutics, South San Francisco, CA, USA.

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  4. C. Frank Bennett

    1. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Carlsbad, CA, USA.

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  5. Amy Bernard

    1. The Kavli Foundation, Los Angeles, CA, USA.

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  6. Xandra O. Breakefield

    1. Massachusetts General Brigham & Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.

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  7. Timothy J. Broderick

    1. Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, Pensacola, FL, USA.

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  8. Shawneequa L. Callier

    1. The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA; Center for Research on Genomics and Global Health, The National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.

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  9. Barry Canton

    1. Ginkgo Bioworks, Boston, MA, USA.

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  10. Janice S. Chen

    1. Mammoth Biosciences, Brisbane, CA, USA.

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  11. C. Simone Fishburn

    1. BioCentury, Redwood City, CA, USA.

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  12. Banning Garrett

    1. Global Federation of Competitiveness Councils, Washington, DC, USA.

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  13. Sidney M. Hecht

    1. Biodesign Center for BioEnergetics, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA.

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  14. Tobias Janowitz

    1. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, USA.

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  15. Melinda Kliegman

    1. Innovative Genomics Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA.

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  16. Adrian Krainer

    1. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, USA.

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  17. Chrystal U. Louis

    1. Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine-Texas Children’s Hospital-Houston Methodist Hospital, Houston, TX, USA.

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  18. Christopher Lowe

    1. University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.

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  19. Alfica Sehgal

    1. CAMP4 Therapeutics, Cambridge, MA, USA.

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  20. Yesim Tozan

    1. NYU School of Global Public Health, New York, NY, USA.

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  21. Kevin J. Tracey

    1. The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, New York, NY, USA.

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  22. Fyodor Urnov

    1. Innovative Genomics Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA.

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  23. Daniel Wattendorf

    1. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, WA, USA.

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  24. Thomas W. Williams

    1. American University, College of Law, Washington, DC, USA.

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  25. Xuanhe Zhao

    1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, MA, USA.

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  26. Michael R. Hayden

    1. University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

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The next quarter century could see the emergence of a new paradigm for treating or curing disease that starts from intervention before disease symptoms appear and extends to treatments optimized for each patient, with outcomes that depend less and less on where a person lives. Such a future is not inevitable, however. To make healthcare effective and equitable, we must broaden global access to healthcare innovations and lower the costs of developing and delivering them.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41573-024-00032-4

Acknowledgements

This article includes recommendations of participants in “Future Concepts in Disruptive Therapeutics, 2045”, a conference held at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in April 2022.

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Competing Interests

The following authors are employees and shareholders in their affiliated companies: D.J.E., C.F.B., J.R.A., B.C., J.S.C., C.U.L. and A.S. A.R.K. has a financial interest in Stoke Therapeutics. The other authors declare no competing interests.

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