This week, some big names popped up on First Opinion.
First, Mark Cuban — of the Dallas Mavericks, formerly of "Shark Tank," and, most relevant to STAT, of Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drugs — came by the "First Opinion Podcast." My colleague Matthew Herper joined us, too. Matt asked the expert questions on PBMs, generics, and transparency, while I, ever the generalist, quizzed Cuban more on his relationship with the Harris campaign and his big-picture vision for health care reform. Cuban surprised me by saying that health care "is literally the easiest industry to interrupt, to disintermediate, that I've ever been involved with." Listen and subscribe to the "First Opinion Podcast" on whatever podcatcher you use. (I use Overcast, which I came close to abandoning after a major redesign earlier this year, but thankfully the bugs have been squashed.) You can also watch our conversation here. Please do, because I tidied up my background just for this Zoom.
Meanwhile, I published a special election-related series. During this campaign season, it has seemed that Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump agree on just two things: Tips shouldn't be taxed, and Big Pharma is to blame for high health care costs. So I asked executives at leading biotech and pharma companies to share their reflections on the campaign discourse about the industry, and four responded with thoughtful essays: Sandoz CEO Richard Saynor; Sebastian Guth, chief operating officer for Bayer Pharmaceuticals and president of Bayer U.S.; Eli Lilly chief scientist Daniel M. Skovronsky; and Fritz Bittenbender, senior vice president of public affairs and access at Genentech. There are several places where they all agree: The political rhetoric is unfair to biopharma, and they're concerned about what happens to intellectual property in the new administration. But it's compelling to read their different perspectives.
I sometimes get asked whether First Opinion prioritizes big names. Generally, no: I care most about the exciting idea.
For instance, this week, I published a deeply compelling personal essay by Sally Littlefield, a mental health advocate and writer who has schizoaffective disorder. Sally wrote about why the psychiatric health care system's long-time disregard of patients makes her hesitant about the newly approved schizophrenia wonder drug Cobenfy: "To be a psychiatric patient is to be unheard, to be told to be quiet and be grateful. As long as the psychiatric industry fails to take patients seriously, pharmaceutical companies will struggle to persuade us to try new antipsychotics."
But I think there also is value to getting prominent people to share their perspectives, which can sometimes surprise you. Now, I've certainly passed on boring essays from politicians or high-profile writers who are saying exactly what you might expect them to — but I also know that STAT readers are interested in reading about leaders in health care, whether or not they agree with them.
Is there a big name you think I should approach about writing for First Opinion? Email me.
Recommendation of the week: I was a kid in the '90s when "mad cow disease" became a headline, so I mostly just remember the outlines of the story and the bad jokes. The BBC Sounds podcast "The Cows Are Mad" shed new light on the topic for me, sharing compelling and heartbreaking stories of loss and missed opportunities.
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