First out was Dean Maria Björkqvist together with Professor Anna Falk and colleagues from the School of Economics and Management and Skånes University Hospital on the stage of Medicon Village. They had a conversation about how we can solve the financing of the new cell and gene therapy treatments that are now available and that have the potential to cure many diseases that were previously chronic and incurable. In the discussion, it emerged that there is now evidence that the treatments work, but that work must be done to simplify the processes both at the research stage and in terms of the regulatory requirements in order to reduce the cost. The economists came up with interesting perspectives such as that we need to do more research on what people value when it comes to treatments and that the way we organise healthcare has now been outpaced by technology.
On Lund University's stage, our first seminar was about antibiotic resistance and what we should do to deal with it and the problems this creates for the treatment of patients. Under the leadership of moderator and journalist Andreas Ekström, Professor Adam Linder spoke about this together with veterinarian Kristina Osbjer and deputy state epidemiologist Stephan Stenmark. Watch the full conversation here (in Swedish).
Vice Dean David Gisselsson Nord then led a seminar on models for defence research on campus and how to safeguard security without stifling innovation. Johan Bergström, professor and director of Lund University's Centre for Preparedness and Resilience, participated in the conversation together with representatives of FOI (the Swedish Defence Research Agency) and ISP (the Swedish Inspectorate for Strategic Products). Watch the full conversation here (in Swedish).
