The Dominant Biomedical Research Agenda and Industry’s Massive Influence on It
In this podcast, Dr. Eeks chats with Dr. Cecilia Rikap of Argentina, Dr. Marc-Andre Gagnon of Canada and Dr. Mercedes Garcia Carrillo of Argentia who, along with a few other researchers, conducted a study and wrote a paper titled: "Whose shoulders is health research standing on? Determining the key actors and contents of the prevailing biomedical research agenda."
In the podcast, they will discuss what the dominant biomedical research agenda is and why it's so important; what its chief contents are; the players that have the most influence over the dominant research agenda (including how much industry influences it), and what is not included in the agenda and why that is important. They will also suggest ways to improve the contents of the agenda and ensure that no one has a monopoly over influencing it. In addition, they talk a little about science, funding and vaccine access as it relates to the current pandemic.
Dr. Mercedes García Carrillo is a biologist and a CONICET postdoctoral scholar. Currently, she is part of the Cancer Systems Biology and Philosophy Laboratory at the Institute of Biosciences, Biotechnology and Translational Biology of the University of Buenos Aires. Her research is focused on studying the impact of commonly used herbicides on human cell lines and microbial soil communities. Mercedes holds a PhD in Industrial Chemistry from the University of Buenos Aires. Her PhD research was focused on the development of emergent food preservation techniques for the treatment of fruit and vegetable beverages.
Dr. Cecilia Rikap is a tenure researcher at the CONICET, Argentina’s national research council, and visiting professor of the IDHES, Université Paris Saclay. She is also an associate researcher of COSTECH, Université de Technologie de Compiègne and CEPED, IRD/Université de Paris, and a professor at the Universidad de Buenos Aires and Universidad Nacional de Quilmes. Her research is centered around the rising concentration of intangible assets, focusing on power relations and the distribution of data and innovation-related economic gains, resulting geopolitical tensions, and the effects on knowledge commons & development. She is the author of the book Capitalism, Power and Innovation: Intellectual Monopoly Capitalism Uncovered (Routledge, 2021). She holds a PhD in economics from the Universidad de Buenos Aires.
Dr. Marc-André Gagnon is Associate Professor at the School of Public Policy and Administration at Carleton University (Ottawa, Canada). He is a Research Fellow with the WHO Collaborating Center on Governance, Accountability and Transparency in the Pharmaceutical Sector. His research focuses on pharmaceutical policy and on the political economy of the drug industry. More specifically, his on-going research focuses on comparative analysis of health care coverage (and pharmacare), on innovation policy and intellectual property in the knowledge-based economy, as well as institutional corruption in pharmaceutical research. He holds a PhD in political science from York University, a Diplôme d’études approfondies in economics from Paris-I Sorbonne and École Normale Supérieure de Fontenay/Saint-Cloud. His did his postdoctoral studies in Law with the Centre for Intellectual Property Policy at McGill University and in Ethics with the Edmond J. Safra Centre for Ethics à l’Université Harvard.
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