Medical innovation under threat

A laboratory specialist uses a microscope to check cells during the last phase of vaccine manufacture inside a clean laboratory at the Sotio AS biotechnology company in Prague, Czech Republic, on Wednesday, July 20, 2016. Czech Republic’s richest man, billionaire Petr Kellners Sotio biotech company, which is seeking to develop active cellular immunotherapy for treatment of prostate, ovarian and lung cancer, has invested billions of koruna into research and clinical development, the units spokesman, Richard Kapsa, said without elaborating. Photographer: Martin Divisek/Bloomberg

GAME-changing inventions taken out of entrepreneurs’ hands, slower innovation in healthcare technology and fewer ground-breaking treatments for patients worldwide.

All are possible outcomes of a combative report from the influential United Nations High Level Panel on Access to Medicines, which takes aim at the market-based system of drug development.