December 2021 – InFLAMES Flagship Blog

A Year Aboard the InFLAMES Flagship

The Academy of Finland Research Flagships each sail at the seas of their own area of expertise. Each one tries to steer clear of destructive reefs but is still sure to face calm, strong winds and even storms on their voyage. InFLAMES Flagship has now sailed the seas of immunology, immunology-based drug development and/or diagnostics for almost a year, recruiting 42 new crew members along the way. That alone is proof enough that as soon as the ropes were released from the pier, the search for stronger winds and ever faster movement towards the goal began. The end goal, developing new treatments alongside more accurate and earlier stage diagnosis methods, is what we hope to reach together with our Flagship and accompanying fleet. I believe the journey is going to be an unforgettable one.

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Of scales and trends

Professors of Practice Timo Veromaa

I’m a fan of macro figures, so the ignorance of others about the right scale of things is sometimes frustrating. For example, for some it is difficult to separate one million from one billion. On the other hand, the Americans do not make life easy by using the term billion for our milliard, and trillion for our billion. However, focusing on the linguistic nuances of numbers is not the real point here; my interest in macro figures is.

Which is why the 98-page The Pharma 1000 – Top Global Pharmaceutical Company Report by Torreya Partners, published in November 2021, was interesting to read. Torreya Partners is a global investment bank focused on the pharmaceutical industry. I still receive their reports, thanks to our previous collaborations. Nice – our collaboration, as fruitful as it was, was far from being just some cheap fun.

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Applying Pharmacoeconomics for Drinking Water

Juha Laine Professors of Practice

Economic thinking and the methods used in economics can be utilised in various situations. To quote a certain Professor of Economics, “The creative imagination of economists can be expected to find solutions to all measurement problems”. For example, “What is the value of life?” is a question for which an educated economist will offer a solution while waiting for their coffee to brew.

There are many research paradigms and areas of application in economics. There is environmental economics, urban economics, business economics, and labour economics, to mention a few. Not surprisingly, there is also health economics and pharmaceutical economics.

In health economics, the organisation and production of health services and incentives, as well as other issues that are essential for social reform, are studied. In pharmaceutical economics, areas of interest include the cost-effectiveness of pharmaceutical treatments, health-related quality of life, and the operation of the pharmaceutical market.

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