In this pane each speaker proposes a unique approach to the problem of making medicines universally affordable. Dr. David Meeker works in the area of rare diseases. Genzyme’s hormone replacement therapy for Gaucher disease, which affects roughly 30 thousand globally, costs $150k to $200k per year. For patients in nations with poor health care systems, Genzyme discounts the medicine steeply. “Don’t say free drugs,” says Meeker. “We’ll help individual patients as best we can but we’re going to work on developing a health care system in that country that will eventually be able to take over.”
