State investment in health innovation is a must, say specialists

Researcher analyzes experiences with technological innovation and discusses relationship between health and development in Brazil.

By Karina Toledo

Agência FAPESP – Discussing the relationship between experiences and technological innovation in São Paulo State is the main focus of the book “Health, Development, Science, Technology and Innovation”, slated for release in September through the publishing house Hucitec Editora.

Organized by Ana Luiza d’Ávila Viana (Universidade de São Paulo Medical School – FMUSP), Nelson Ibañez (Santa Casa de São Paulo School of Medical Sciences) and Aylene Bousquat (Universidade Católica de Santos), the book presents the results of a study funded by FAPESP through its Health Program for the United Health System (SUS): shared health management (PPSUS).

“The health sector has been cited as one of the vectors of development around the world because it involves a large industrial complex. It mobilizes many resources, employs many people and engages powerful industries, such as pharmaceuticals. For this reason, its impact on economic growth is large,” Viana affirmed.

According to the researchers, health innovation in Brazil is still incipient, but it has been developing at a faster clip in the last few years. “Nevertheless, there is still little evaluation of how this process is occurring in practice,” she said.

With a view to overcoming this gap, the researchers conducted six case studies focused on incentive policies for technological innovation in São Paulo State. Among them is the historical trajectory of the Butantan Institute and some recent innovations, such as the development of a recombinant vaccine against hepatitis B and the technological transfer process of the Influenza vaccine, conducted under the auspices of an agreement with Sanofi Pasteur.

“Butantan is a large producer of vaccines and serums, brings together a significant number researchers, and transfers technology to the entire country and among its different laboratories. For this reason, we consider it an emblematic case of balance in the process of health development,” explained Viana.

Viana affirms in one of the chapters that alongside Fiocruz, Butantan is the key to the country’s self-sufficiency in the immunobiological field. “Without these two institutes we would not be self-sufficient in the production of serum and vaccines and would not be able to export,” she said.

Also under analysis were the Fundação para o Remédio Popular (the People’s Medicine Foundation) and the policies for implementation of São Paulo Technological Parks. The decision-making process relative to the incorporation of new medical equipment in the health system is examined in a study of the computerized multi-slice tomography machine.

The study examined the relationship between transnational business conglomerates, doctors, service providers, health plan operators, regulatory agencies and the Health Ministry. The authors coupled case studies with interviews and articles by specialists, including Peter Evans, a professor at the University of California who studies the relationship between the State and companies in Brazil.

“Evans suggests that social policies have an important role in development in this century, in contrast to the 20th, when the development policy was focused on industry,” explained Viana.

The current panorama of national science, technology and innovation policy and its interfaces with health is overviewed in the segment presented by Fabíola Lanna Iozzi, of Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp). The problematic aspects of this policy are discussed in an interview with Moisés Goldbaum, also of USP.

“All chapters underscore a need for the State to better regulate health innovation processes. The policies are all fragmented; there is no room for coordination,” explained Viana.

Currently, added the researcher, the regulation occurs only at the moment that a new technology is introduced on the market, when it is evaluated for safety and for cost to determine budget availability.

“However, we argue that the State needs to regulate this process from the beginning. Research needs to be on the agenda to influence the development of more cost-effective technology, according to the epidemiological profile and needs of the country, so that everyone can have access,” added Viana.