More than 35 million people worldwide had dementia in 2010, when annual costs were estimated at USD 604 billion; the number of people with dementia is expected to exceed 115 million by 2050. Alzheimer’s disease is today considered the prototype problem for the Grand Global Challenge in...

Science and technology improves human health but the pressure for faster and larger improvements is building with the continued ageing of the population of many OECD countries and the associated increased demands for health care. A fundamental starting point for better understanding of the...

This report examines examples of new and emerging governance models that aim to support the responsible development of diagnostics and treatments based on the latest advances in biomedicine. In particular, it presents programmes and initiatives that aim to manage uncertainty in the development...

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), through its Working Party on Biotechnology, undertook a project on “Healthy Ageing and Biomedical Innovation for Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease”. The project was conducted under Output Result 2.1 of the WPB Programme of...

While the rapid development of vaccines against COVID‑19 is an extraordinary achievement, successfully vaccinating the global population presents many challenges, from production to distribution, deployment, and importantly, acceptance. Trust in the vaccines is vital, and is critically...

All countries need vaccines but not all can produce them. Vaccine production is highly specialised, subject to comparative advantages, and concentrated in few countries, making trade a vital means to deploying vaccines broadly. Keeping markets open by reducing tariffs, streamlining trade-related...