C-Path is No. 7 way to fix health care

[Source: Inside Tucson Business staff ] - The editors of Reader’s Digest started a countdown of the "18 big ideas to fix health care now (This won’t hurt a bit)" and when they got to No. 7 they stopped at Tucson C-Path.

In the November issue, the magazine’s editors wrote "Could it really be this simple? Get the (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) and the pharmaceutical industry to talk more openly so patients can get safer drugs more quickly and inexpensively."

Formally known as the Critical Path Institute, C-Path was lauded for getting 18 competing drug, biotech and diagnostic companies together to collaborate on a major lung cancer trial which could allow the FDA to get results in as little as a week rather than years.

Founded in 2005 to support the FDA and the Critical Path Initiative, C-Path’s goal is to get the government, academia and the medical industry to work together to advance new medical products.

C-Path is now also working with the University of Arizona to develop a drug development curriculum and with the University of Utah on genetic testing for a new cardiovascular drug.
C-Path fits well into the Tucson region’s emphasis on developing a biotech industry. Others include Roche Holding’s Ventana Medical Systems, Sanofi-aventis and the University of Arizona’s BIO5 institute.

What were some other "big ideas to fix health care"?

1. A Kaiser Foundation Health Plan that focuses on fighting the five common chronic conditions (coronary atery disease, diabetes, congestive heart failure, asthma and depression), which are responsible for 75 percent of health care spending.

2. A Mayo Clinic system that investigates hospital mistakes that works much like aviation investigations following a crash.

3. Best Doctors, a Boston-based health benefit that offers member-customized second opinions from a network of specialists around the world to reduce the number of misdiagnoses and wrong treatments.