A disruptive disease needs disruptive innovation

One of the things I value most about my role is meeting and talking with all sorts of people from around the world. Many of the people I speak with are people who have had their lives brutally disrupted by cancer. It is their stories, their hopes, and their challenges that continue to drive me, and many of these people are alive today because of innovations in cancer care. Yes, we have made tremendous advances over the years, but this is only the start of the journey. We have a long way to go—there are many people who cannot access cancer treatments or, heartbreakingly, have no treatment options at all.?

In our pursuit of transformative treatments, I believe, we need to act now, and we need to be relentless in our action because, by 2040, nearly 30 million* of us will receive the life-changing news of a cancer diagnosis. And, right now, there are so many people who desperately need more time to live, to raise children, to laugh, to enjoy the little things, and to continue creating their own life stories. We owe all of them these special moments.

More time to live, to raise children, to laugh, to enjoy the little things, and to continue creating their own life stories.

Disruptive Innovation

To give more patients more moments that matter we need innovation that extends beyond test-tubes, beakers, and the labs. Innovation must influence how we think, how we make decisions, how we include patients’ needs within our work, and how we deliver potentially life-changing treatments to everyone in need, regardless of geographies.

I was curious to know what innovation means to others, so a couple of months ago I asked followers here on LinkedIn what innovation means to them. Thank you to all of you who shared your thoughts, ideas, and opinions, I truly appreciated every comment.?

One that particularly resonated with me was ‘If we have a will, we will find a way.’ For me, this way of thinking is at the center of innovation—I call it the ‘why not’ mindset. It’s a mindset that disrupts the status quo. And for me, disrupting all stages of the cancer journey is exactly what we need to do—we need to disrupt approaches to prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.

Fortunately, my team here at Novartis Oncology are bold, they are disrupters. They know cancer is smart, so they constantly drive the cycle of innovation while thinking differently, trying new approaches. I believe this is a key reason why we’re the only company leveraging four therapeutic platforms—cell and gene therapies, immunotherapies, radioligand therapies, and targeted therapies. These platforms, and our ability to combine them, have the potential to revolutionize the future of cancer care.?

Fearless Culture

For innovation to flourish, we need a purposeful culture, one that fosters an environment that is curious, courageous, and collaborative. But even more than this, we need an environment that offers the safety for people to be fearless in the face of failure. This is not easy, especially in an industry where many of us have learned that failure is a bad thing, something to avoid. As humans, we learn from failure, we progress because we fail. Failure often results from pushing boundaries and taking bold risks.

Earlier this year, Novartis announced that results from one of our CANOPY trials were not what we had hoped for in patients with advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. But, as we continue our endeavors to lead the way in this field, the data has provided valuable scientific insights. In our pursuit of innovative treatments for lung cancer, several Phase III studies are ongoing, with other CANOPY trials in earlier lines of treatment yet to read out. Lung cancer is the No. 1 cause of cancer deaths worldwide, so we need to be courageous and fearless in pursuing new ways to prevent, diagnose, and treat it.?

Collaboration

I believe collaboration is one of the key ingredients required for innovation. The entire cancer ecosystem needs to collaborate, but we really need to talk to those impacted by cancer, listen to them, and not assume we know what they need from a treatment. As I talk to patients, I hear more and more about what they really want and that is time. But, not time in a hospital bed, not time in chemo, but quality time with friends and family, being able to appreciate the little things that make life so special.?It is insights like these that help to shape what we do and how we do it. When we design our clinical trials, we want to improve standards of care and aim for 90% or greater of our pipeline to be first in class or indication.

We need to change the cancer narrative and develop more transformative treatments that add years to life and life to those years.

The more stories I hear, the more aware I become of the need for us to change the cancer narrative and develop more transformative treatments that add years to life and life to those years. We must rewrite cancer’s story because, as we all know, a cancer diagnosis will never be welcome, but cancer is, and will remain to be, part of many of our lives. I believe that innovation will help rewrite this story but looking at the story from other’s points of view can change that story right now. I hear how people with cancer don’t want to be seen as objects of pity, people waiting for death. Instead, I hear how they want us to see them as people, people who just happen to live with cancer.?

Every voice needs to be heard.

In Conclusion

Innovation is a driving force behind the treatments that have given and continue to give so many people living with cancer extra weeks, months, and years of life. Unfortunately, we don’t have a treatment for every patient, and not every patient can access suitable treatments. Taking a disruptive, courageous, and collaborative approach to everything we do, I am sure, will lead to further innovations, innovations in cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.

My dream is to rewrite the cancer story so that one day it might be nothing more than a word in the history books.

Curious to know more about our work to reimagine medicine? Discover more.

Many thanks to designer Kwaku Opoku for creating much of the artwork that has helped to bring an innovative touch to my words.

?*Global Cancer Observatory