With more than 10,000 known diseases affecting our world and viable treatments for only 500 of them, hundreds of patient advocates, researchers, investors and policymakers gathered here in America's financial capital at an annual Faster Cures conference in November with a clear focus. They were working to save lives by speeding up and improving the U.S. medical research system.
The shared purpose of the conference attendees is critical also to Japan and the rest of Asia — to foster the collaboration needed to speed medical progress and improve health outcomes. The nonprofit organization Faster Cures is a center of the Milken Institute, where I serve as the nonpartisan think tank's first Asia Fellow.
In developing Asia, governments remain vigilant in their focus on infectious diseases such as dengue fever, cholera and malaria as well as emerging threats like the Zika virus. Even Japan has seen the threat of infectious diseases such as dengue and been on guard as travelers return from areas where such diseases are endemic. Yet, collaboration and commitment are also necessary in the face of a growing "noninfectious" threat to the region's health and well-being.