SPPA Associate Professor Marc-André Gagnon is co-editor of a special issue of Frontiers in Medicine on research topic: Current priorities in health research agendas: tensions between public and commercial interests in prioritizing biomedical, social, and environmental aspects of health. This thought-provoking collection of manuscripts includes subjects such as conflict of interests and marketing of health education, and explores how often neglected approaches could significantly improve health outcomes at a lower cost while also reaching social groups and minorities that are often disregarded by big pharma.
Frontiers in Medicine, 18 March 2024
Sec. Regulatory Science
Volume 11 – 2024 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2024.1391982
Editorial on the Research Topic – Current priorities in health research agendas: tensions between public and commercial interests in prioritizing biomedical, social, and environmental aspects of health
Mercedes Garcia Carrilo, Marc-André Gagnon, Matias Blaustein
Recently, using bibliometric tools, we analyzed the key actors, contents, and influence of the prevailing biomedical research agenda. Our analysis led us to conclude that fostering a more inclusive research agenda, alongside adopting epistemological frameworks that consider socio-environmental factors influencing disease transmission, could enhance our readiness to prevent and treat a wider range of diseases, ultimately leading to improved health outcomes (1, 2). Predominant health research agendas, usually in line with existing financial incentives for obtaining lucrative research results, tend to focus on therapeutic and pharmacological intervention, prioritizing innovative therapies based on molecular biology and biotechnology approaches. However, commercial interests do not necessarily align with the existing public health priorities, generating a diversity of conflicts of interest (COI) (3–9). The prevalence of health and biomedical research agendas often neglects not only the less lucrative diseases but also the study of the social and environmental determinants of health and disease, even when addressing these aspects could significantly improve population health at much lower costs. Some examples of absent studies in the health research agendas are the analysis of non-medical factors influencing health outcomes (social determinants of health), the analysis of the relationship between people and their environment (environmental health), or the evaluation of the socio-environmental factors that influence the deterioration of bodies and territories (such as the One Health approach). This issue of Frontiers in Medicine explores why these approaches are often neglected and how they could help to significantly improve health outcomes at a lower cost while also reaching social groups and minorities that are often disregarded by big pharma. A total of 14 manuscripts, including original research, perspective, opinions, brief research reports, and different types of reviews, were accepted and published.
Taken together, these studies provided valuable information on the priorities in health research agendas, the socio-environmental determinants of health, and the tensions between public and commercial interests concerning the possibility of moving toward a more integrated health perspective. Undoubtedly, more efforts are needed in this direction so that human, animal, and environmental health are considered a right and not merely a commercial concern.