INNOVATION AND THE HEALTH CARE REFORM DIAGNOSIS

A speech by John C Lechleiter, PhD Chairman, President and CEO, Eli Lilly and Co, on innovation and the health care reform diagnosis, is presented. Health care is a vitally important topic. And any reform measures will touch each of you and your families. Innovation is the notion of achieving fundamental breakthroughs -- responding to health needs for which no answers existed and offering clearly superior outcomes. Innovation in health care takes many forms. The public health improvements of the 20th century played a large role -- including build-out of a sanitation infrastructure, immunization programs, health education on a mass scale, and the training of medical practitioners on the basis of science rather than superstition. In the midst of the broader health care reform season, Congress also is looking right now at legislation to encourage and regulate copied biotech products in the health care market, a very important way to control costs down the road.