Appointment will support efforts to accelerate lifesaving medical treatments to patients

WASHINGTON, September 16, 2019 – Former U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb has been appointed to the FasterCures advisory board, executive director Tanisha Carino announced today.

Gottlieb has a unique vantage point into the biomedical research system, how breakthrough medical technologies are developed, and the promise new therapies can hold to cure disease and save lives, according to Carino.

As a member of the advisory board, Gottlieb will leverage decades of experience to provide counsel to the FasterCures team in a variety of areas, including how to best engage patients in research, creating new pathways to innovation through novel financial incentives, and the ways in which a higher-functioning biomedical research system can be advanced.

“For the last two decades, FasterCures has been a critical voice in modernizing the biomedical research system and for transforming the process for safely moving treatments to patients,” Gottlieb said. “We have more opportunities than ever before to use technology as a tool for curing illness. We need to advance these innovations through a biomedical enterprise that’s as advanced as the technologies that are being developed.”

To achieve its mission, FasterCures brings together stakeholders from all corners of the healthcare system – from government officials and regulators, to researchers and advocates – to address the barriers that exist in the system, and propose patient-centric solutions. Today, there are nearly 10,000 known diseases, and only 500 treatments, so the stakes are high for accelerating the next generation of therapies. 

“Dr. Gottlieb is a true leader in healthcare, and his voice, experience, and perspectives will be a valuable asset to FasterCures,” said Carino. “When I think about the changes that need to happen in the next several years to ensure patients get the most effective treatments as quickly as possible, there’s no better ally in that mission than Scott.”

For more information about FasterCures, visit www.milkeninstitute.org.