When one thinks about the future of chronic diseases, innovation isn’t often what first comes to mind. Chronic diseases used to be the ‘buzzword’ of R&D, driving considerable effort and investment across the industry. Our efforts have paid off, with multiple blockbuster treatments launched over recent decades that have improved millions of lives worldwide.

Yet despite significant progress, vast unmet need still exists across Europe. Chronic diseases affect over 300 million Europeans, are the leading cause of mortality and morbidity across the region, and have a staggering socio-economic impact – estimated at €700bn annually, equivalent to 80% of all healthcare costs in Europe.

To change these statistics, we must relook at our current treatments for chronic diseases, once again focusing our energies on innovation in this space. We have great therapies today that can stop and reverse many chronic diseases, but there are also incredible treatments coming. We are on the doorstep of an exciting new generation of medicines that may enable us to cure disease entirely, fundamentally changing the prognosis for many chronic conditions.

To make these new advancements a reality, we need to look at chronic diseases differently. By expanding our understanding of disease pathology, using innovative approaches like precision medicine and breaking chronic diseases down into sub-phenotypes, we are better able to design preventative approaches and tailor treatments. This allows doctors and researchers to more accurately predict which treatments will likely work for patients, taking into account their individual genetic and molecular make-up, environment and lifestyle. For example, take asthma – it’s no longer just severe asthma, we are classifying the disease into phenotypes such as allergic, eosinophilic and more. This is the same for heart failure – there are many treatments available, but they are not specific enough to address the diversity of our patient presentations.

Next generation medicines will be a step-change in patient-centric healthcare, creating targeted treatments that offer more predictable and better disease outcomes, as well as more efficient use of resources. Coupled with novel technologies like cell and gene therapies – which can halt progression and potentially address the underlying cause of disease – we are entering a new era of healthcare with innovation that could truly transform patients’ lives.

However, the reality facing us today is that considerable funds are being spent on providing high-cost care for patients when it’s already too late. Our goal must be to prevent people from becoming ill in the first place. We must shift our focus to disease prevention and early intervention strategies for chronic diseases.

Through digitalisation and the use of health data, we’re increasingly able to predict and prevent chronic diseases. Researchers are applying AI and machine learning to better understand complex conditions such as chronic kidney disease, helping them to identify gene markers, disease patterns and novel targets for drug development. In parallel, screening programmes and disease awareness initiatives are driving symptomatic recognition and supporting earlier intervention prior to disease progression.

Changing the prognosis for chronic diseases across Europe will rely on us dramatically dialling-up these types of solutions, acting sooner and more decisively. Reducing risk factors, alongside the implementation of evidence-based prevention strategies and earlier diagnosis will all contribute to improving survival outcomes.

As an industry, we’re now increasingly aware of the connection between the health of people and our planet. Stopping chronic diseases from progressing will improve patient outcomes, and offer broader economic and environmental benefits by keeping patients out of hospital. Hospitals drive the bulk of treatment costs associated with chronic diseases and emit 2.5 times more greenhouse gases than commercial buildings. By keeping patients healthy, we will lower their need for hospitalisation and ambulatory care, and reduce their carbon footprint, helping to break the link between climate change and chronic diseases.

Innovation will be key to addressing the unsustainable burden of chronic diseases, moving us from today’s treatments to tomorrow’s cures. Achieving this new future for Europe will demand collaboration and commitment from all those involved in healthcare. There is exciting potential ahead, but only by working together and harnessing innovation will we be able to reduce the rates of chronic disease, lessen the pressures on health services and strengthen healthcare systems for the future.

References are available on request.

Stefan Woxström is Senior Vice President of AstraZeneca Europe and Canada