Business Group on Health

The promise of cell and gene therapies is big. They have the ability to address the underlying genetic causes of disease, offering new possibilities for people with serious and previously difficult-to-treat conditions. But as cell and gene therapies move beyond just treating rare diseases to also address conditions such as high cholesterol, the market is being shaped by new questions about access and value. The evidence base for existing therapies also continues to evolve, particularly as researchers assess long-term outcomes for treatments that are often approved based on small patient datasets.

Sarah Emond, President and CEO of the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER), returns to the Business Group on Health podcast to discuss what has changed in the cell and gene therapy market. The conversation explores evolving evidence, how therapies are priced and paid for, provider capacity, regulatory developments, and the long-term durability of treatment outcomes.

As the number of people who become eligible for cell and gene therapies grows, employers face the challenge of connecting employees and their families to potentially life-changing therapies, while also assessing value and managing financial risk.

Tune in for practical insights into new developments, emerging payment options and how stakeholders across the healthcare ecosystem can work together to balance innovation, access and affordability.

Speakers

Nearly half of all adults turn to social media, at least in part, for health information. This represents a growing concern when considering how the spread of health misinformation has ballooned in recent years. The consequences are significant for individuals who may make uninformed decisions about their health, but they also extend to employers when it comes to utilization and increased costs.

In this episode, Tim Caulfield, bestselling author and professor in the Faculty of Law and School of Public Health at the University of Alberta, explores how social media, influencers, and algorithms have transformed how people discover health information. He examines the rise of “scienceploitation”, a phenomenon where scientific language and research are manipulated to promote questionable health claims, and the subsequent challenge to distinguish evidence-based information from hype.

From healthcare utilization and benefit costs to employee health and well-being, the adverse effects of health misinformation can have far-reaching consequences. This timely conversation highlights the forces shaping health beliefs today and the implications for workforce health.

Speakers

Fatherhood changes many aspects of day-to-day life and research shows that it is also changes men physiologically by altering hormones and affecting mental and physical health.

Listen in for a deeper understanding of how employers can support fathers by fostering healthier families and helping employees enhance communication and leadership skills that strengthen families, teams and workplaces.

Speakers

When an MRI revealed a small mass in her right lung, Shira Boehler, by her own admission, ignored it. A young, active, non-smoker, Shira had no symptoms and seemingly no predisposition to lung cancer. Conversations with experts led her to have a low dose CT scan – which revealed stage one lung cancer.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, and up to 20% of lung cancers in the U.S. occur in people who have never smoked – just like Shira. Today she’s a lung cancer survivor and staunch advocate. Shira wrote a NY Times best-selling memoir, One Scan Saved My Life, chronicling her unexpected diagnosis, treatment journey, and transformation into an advocate for awareness and early detection of lung cancer.

Shira shares her personal story on this podcast, plus her goal to expand guidelines for lung cancer screenings

Tune in to hear how she is advocating for policy reforms and how she engages with insurers and employers to help them better understand and access data showing that earlier diagnoses can save lives and improve outcomes

Speakers

Keywords:

Pharmacy costs have an outsized impact on overall healthcare spend for employers. But much happens before a drug’s price is set. It is important to understand how the complex and lengthy drug development process really works and where there are opportunities to adapt the policy, regulatory, scientific and market forces that influence the lifecycle of a drug – and the costs.

In this podcast we sit down with Rachel Sachs, Professor of Law, Washington University, St. Louis School of Law. Professor Sachs is one of the nation’s leading experts on drug pricing, policy, and innovation and she shares the drug development process in a clear, accessible way to explain how the costs that patients and purchasers pay are ultimately determined – and why they may be different depending on who is paying.

She also discusses the patent process including what they cover, why drugs often have multiple patents, what that means for exclusivity and future competition, skinny labeling and more. We also dig into the R&D process, FDA approval standards, the gap between approval and launch, coverage negotiations, the importance of biosimilars, and more.

Tune in for a clearer understanding of why so many of today’s headlines about prescription costs trace back to the drug development process and how it influences labeling, launch timing, pricing and the patient access decisions that matter most.

Speakers: Rachel Sachs, Professor of Law, Washington University, St. Louis School of Law and Ellen Kelsay, President and CEO, Business Group on Health

While it is crucial for employees to perform at their highest level in any organization, it is especially critical when it comes to national security. In this podcast episode, Dr. Jennifer Posa, former Chief Well-being Officer at the Central Intelligence Agency, offers a roadmap for building psychological strength and readiness to help employees navigate the most challenging environments.

Tune in to learn how to evolve a set of well-being programs into a company-wide strategy that emphasizes peak individual performance. By prioritizing well-being and workplace culture, and focusing on resilience, employers offer employees the tools to successfully navigate high-stress situations.

Dr. Posa also discusses the challenges presented by artificial intelligence (AI) as they relate to employee well-being. She explains that AI can feel like disruption – to employees and leaders alike – but with transparent communication and measurable assessments as part of an implementation strategy, employers build trust and improve well-being.

Speakers:

Chronic pain affects one quarter of adults globally, costing employers roughly half a trillion dollars in lost productivity, absenteeism, and healthcare costs every year.

In this episode, Dr. Sean Mackey, a pain medicine specialist at Stanford University, explains why the number of individuals experiencing chronic pain is increasing and reveals the fascinating science behind pain as “a product of the brain” shaped by not only injury but also sleep, stress, mood, and past experiences.

Dr. Mackey also outlines the six treatment categories for chronic pain which include medications, procedures, mind-body approaches, physical rehabilitation, alternative medicines, and self-empowerment through education. He shares how psychological factors like anxiety and poor sleep can negatively impact surgical outcomes and offers practical advice for those seeking effective pain care.

We wrap up with emerging research on precision pain medicine, including biomarkers and “digital twin” technology, plus a lightning round dispelling common pain myths.

Speakers

Nearly 40 percent of Gen Z and 35 percent of millennials say they’re stressed or anxious most of the time. While not always evident, the workplace impact is difficult to ignore.

In this episode, Dr. Smita Das, psychiatrist and professor at the Stanford School of Medicine and Betsy Schwarz, director of the Center for Workplace Mental Health at the American Psychiatric Association (APA) Foundation, address the unique toll that certain mental health challenges have on millennials and Gen Z and what employers can do in response.

The conversation covers generational pressures and hidden risks like substance use, gambling and suicide. Employers will gain research-informed insights to normalize mental health and respond with clarity, compassion and action.

Speakers:

Betsy Schwartz, director of the Center for Workplace Mental Health, American Psychiatric Association Foundation

LuAnn Heinen, Business Group on Health

Chronic kidney disease affects 10% of the world’s population, including 37 million adults in the U.S.; 90% of those impacted may be unaware they are afflicted with the condition. In this episode, Marcello Tonelli, President of the International Society of Nephrology, sits down to share opportunities for early intervention, improved screening practices, and how kidney care fits into the broader cardio-kidney-metabolic (CKM) framework.

Tune in to learn how global organizations can best support their employees to improve health outcomes, and the bottom line.

Guest: Marcello Tonelli, Nephrologist and President of the International Society of Nephrology

Liquid biopsy tests, blood tests with the potential to detect up to 50 types of cancers, are being embraced by some in the health care community but viewed with careful consideration by others.

In this episode, Jason Oke, medical statistician and lecturer at the University of Oxford’s Centre for Evidence-based Medicine, discusses the promise of these multi-cancer, early detection tests, alongside their limitations when it comes to real world application. He explains how effective screening tests of all kinds are measured, shares data from randomized trials that early detection tests show, and reveals how sensitivity, specificity, over-diagnosis and “healthy screenee bias” contribute to test value.

Employees are excited about the potential of these tests. Employers should listen in for an unbiased, data-backed perspective to determine if benefits programs should evolve to include this offering.

Guest: Jason Oke | Medical statistician and lecturer in medical statistics and cancer research at the University of Oxford