e-Health and Healthcare Innovations

Biography

Biography: Sjaak Vink

Abstract

What is the challenge? Healthcare access is a worldwide challenge. Every day, patients from all over the world are denied access to elsewhere approved health innovations for arbitrary reasons. It is concerning to know that the number of cancer deaths is growing globally year aft er year with 3 out of 5 people aff ected with the disease around the world. I have also been there myself. I experienced personal hardships of family members and acquaintances that passed away before ever accessing the medicines they needed. My dear friend Stephan who was also an ALS patient, passed away before accessing the latest elsewhere approved treatments that could have easily prolonged his life. His only wish was to have “More tomorrows”. Why Now? Th e creation of Th eSocialMedwork is a timely and critical one, with only 11 years separating us from the 2030 health targets of the United Nations. It is our responsibility and duty to eradicate this challenge as soon as possible. Our aim is to keep pushing for a change in the access to healthcare landscape every single day. We have now safely delivered over 5,500 latest innovative medicines to over 75 countries, years before the offi cial availability in these countries. How are we doing it? Under the Named Patient import basis, Th eSocialMedwork is safely and legally delivering medicines to all over the world. Th ese regulations allow every citizen and healthcare provider to legally import an elsewhere approved treatment into their country of residence. Our success could not be achieved without a highly qualifi ed and skilled multicultural team which includes doctors, pharmacists, medical industry experts, scientists, regulatory experts and lawyers. We focus on the latest innovative medicines in oncology, neurology and rare diseases. We work on behalf of the patient in cooperation with their treating doctor or on behalf of expert hospital pharmacies and professors at centers of excellence. We oversee the entire process of sourcing and delivering the medicine so that the patient, doctor or pharmacy does not have to. In every case, patients must possess a prescription from their treating doctor based in their country of residence. Treatment responsibility should always be with the treating doctor. Our online platform is catered to both patients and healthcare professionals. Th ey are able to browse through diff erent treatments and discover the latest trials and approval process. It is also a place of support and inspiration where they can read other patients’ experiences living with a particular illness. What happens next? Th eSocialMedwork’s end goal is global health access for everyone regardless of their fi nancial situation. Th is is why we are working towards crowd funding, blockchain transparency, pricing algorithms and conditional reimbursement pilots. In the future we aim to further work together with pharma companies, patient organisations and healthcare professionals to provide patients with the latest and most innovative treatments at their fi ngertips the second they become approved around the world.