There seems to be quite a bit of noise about "how expensive" the...

There seems to be quite a bit of noise about "how expensive" the MSB treatment is re COVID (well - would be... trial outcome please, Mr FDA...!).

Yes, the treatment sits solidly in the "correct" space, of the health interventions pyramid (or "treat" instead of "correct" in more common parlance) and that area of the pyramid is where it is most expensive to fix the problem - which is why you want to minimize the no of people who exist in that part.

Its similar to a car crash - its a lot cheaper to put in place road rules, put in place traffic lights etc per head, than to fix someone up in emergency - you try everything you can, not to let them get into emergency, for both the individuals own sake, likely fatality stats once they are there and the sheer cost of an emergency treatment and then the rehab.

However, in this case - not only is there that is, there's the sheer cost of having the world shut down, because of the fear of ending up in emergency or dead if you walk out the door of your home.

So - is it expensive (whatever its cost ends up being) - no, not compared to the alternative.

Fortunately, I believe that Joe Swedish, Mesoblast's chairman, who is the old chair of AHIP - American Health Insurance Plans - the USA national association of all its health insurers, is well placed for and will be very comfortable in discussions of appropriate price, use and access, with both the FDA and the insurers. For some reason, I think we're in good hands, because yes, SI is awesome - but there's a lot of awesome in the leadership team, its not just him. Ie: I'm pretty sure that Bill Burns as ex CEO of Roche will be equally comfortable having those conversations and ensuring Mesoblast is prepared to undertake them solidly and successfully.


A bit of an insight on Swedish, from an AHIP conference, when he was CEO of Anthem

https://www.ahip.org/speaker/joseph-r-swedish/

Chairman, President and
Chief Executive Officer
Anthem, Inc.

Conference Session
Reinventing Health Care for the Future
1:15 pm- 2:00 pm
June 7, 2017

Joseph R. Swedish is chairman, president and chief executive officer of Anthem, Inc., a Fortune 33 company and the nation’s leading health benefits provider, serving more than 40 million members—or one in eight Americans—through its affiliated health plans and over 74 million individuals across 27 states through Amerigroup, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield health plans, CareMore, Simply Healthcare, and its portfolio of health services subsidiaries.

Mr. Swedish joined Anthem in March 2013 and quickly set forth the company’s vision to be America’s valued health partner. A visionary leader with an ongoing commitment to health care innovation and collaboration, Mr. Swedish is dedicated to transforming America’s health care system by revolutionizing relationships with providers and expanding access to high quality, affordable health care for consumers. During his tenure, Mr. Swedish has reinvigorated the company’s culture, centered around meeting the unique needs of its increasingly diverse members and communities, and mobilized Anthem’s 53,000 associates around four strategic pillars—provider collaboration, managing total cost of care, consumer centricity, and quality.

Since Mr. Swedish joined the company, Anthem’s membership has grown by four million, or 11 percent, to more than 40 million, the average share price has approximately tripled, and operating revenue has increased 39 percent to over $84 billion. Continuing to evolve Anthem’s strategy to position the company for long-term success, Mr. Swedish oversaw the completion of the Simply Healthcare acquisition in February 2015 to serve Medicaid and Medicare members in Florida.

Mr. Swedish has more than 44 years of health care leadership experience, including over 25 years as CEO for several major health systems, most recently as president and CEO of Trinity Health, an 18-state integrated health care delivery system, and previously held CEO and senior leadership positions with Centura Health and Hospital Corporation of America. Throughout his career, Mr. Swedish has built a reputation for accelerating financial and operational performance combined with improvements in cost and quality of care by enhancing strategic direction and tactical market realignment. He has also specialized in leveraging value-creating assets through mergers and strategic acquisitions. Mr. Swedish is a recipient of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year—Rocky Mountain Region award, regarded as one of the most prestigious business award programs in the country, and was one of five health care leaders named to Crain Communications’ Top 100 Innovators list in 2016. Mr. Swedish has also been recognized as one of Modern Healthcare’s 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare for the previous 11 years, being named in the top 20 of the health sector’s most senior-level executives, high-level government administrators, elected officials, academics, and thought-leaders for four consecutive years.

In January 2017, Mr. Swedish assumed the role of Chairman of the Board of America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the national trade association whose members provide coverage for health care and related services to millions of Americans every day. Mr. Swedish also serves on the board of directors for CDW, a leading provider of technology solutions to business, government, education, and health care; the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association; the National Institute for Health Care Management; and AHIP. He is also chairman of Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business Board of Visitors and a member of the Duke Margolis External Advisory Board. Mr. Swedish previously held board and advisory positions with Coventry Health Care, Inc., RehabCare Group, Inc., Cross Country, Inc., the American Hospital Association, Catholic Health Association (as its chairman), National Quality Forum, and Loyola University Chicago.

Mr. Swedish received his bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and his master’s degree in health administration from Duke University.