EP345: Can Pharma Imagine How Our Health System Will Look in the Future? With Paul Simms

In Episode 345, Stacey Richter talks with Paul Simms, founder of Impatient Health and former chairman of eyeforpharma, about whether pharma can imagine what our health system will look like in the future. Paul argues that the sheer amount of money sloshing around the industry could actually be inhibiting R&D innovation — if you can make a ton of money without meaningfully improving outcomes, why take the risk of doing something genuinely new? The conversation draws on Clay Christensen's work on disruption and what it takes for a big incumbent to adapt when the habitat changes.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

✅ Why having a ton of money sloshing around an industry can inhibit R&D innovation rather than fuel it

✅ How Clay Christensen's work on disruption applies to where pharma sits today

✅ Why falling prices could actually spark more innovation, not less

✅ What a "data-driven consumer relationship" business model looks like for pharma companies

✅ Why AQ — the ability to adapt — may matter more than IQ or EQ when an industry's habitat is changing

WHY THIS MATTERS

When the habitat changes, evolution happens, and entities that are able to adapt will thrive. Pharma is at a catalyst point where it could go one way or the other — and the industry's reaction to the pandemic has largely been "we need to double down" rather than genuinely rethink the model.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

EP300 with Bruce Rector, MD: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Other Apps

=== LINKS ===

🔗 Show Notes with all mentioned links: Episode Page

🔗 Healthcare Industry Acronyms and Terms

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00:00 Introduction.

05:04 "We're at that catalyst point where we could go one way or the other."

05:39 How can the analogy of Web 1.0 vs Web 2.0 be applied to the future of healthcare business models?

07:06 "People need to improve their awareness at the very least as to a new generation of companies coming forward."

08:31 "What now is the new business model that can exist in that world?"

09:07 Is there a stage pre-agility that will allow pharma companies to pivot to future markets?

12:08 What are the new ways to think about things in the future of healthcare business?

14:09 "The mind boggles at what is possible but is not yet being achieved."

16:11 Why could prices falling actually spark more innovation?

16:49 EP300 with Bruce Rector, MD.

21:36 "It's these companies that have this data-driven consumer relationship that I think are very interesting."

25:16 "I just think that it's a mindset change first."

25:38 "I'm not here to be right or wrong. I'm just here to enable the conversation."

25:56 "What I find is that companies make significant efforts and that they don't quite gain the same traction as quickly as they might like to."

26:20 "It seems to be this great impatience that companies can turn around these non-medicine initiatives more quickly."

29:42 "It seems to me that the pharmaceutical industry's reaction to the pandemic has been, 'We need to double down.'"