GE Healthcare, the health business of General Electric (NYSE: GE), announced its plans to dedicate $1 billion of its total R&D budget over the next five years to expand its advanced cancer diagnostic and molecular imaging capabilities, as well as its world-class technologies for the manufacture of biopharmaceuticals and for cancer research.
Announced alongside a $100million open innovation challenge in New York City, the $1 billion investment crosses all lines of GE Healthcare’s global business and is an example of the company’s commitment to fighting cancer. The investment will enable the company to bring the most promising cancer ideas to market, unleashing technologies that improve accuracy of diagnosis to enable more effective treatment decisions and empower doctors and patients with better information.
“We are committed to tackling cancer. However, with a disease as complex and multifaceted as cancer, solutions need to be equally multifaceted and even more integrated, combining imaging, molecular diagnostics and healthcare IT,” said John Dineen, president and CEO, GE Healthcare. “As one of the most relevant global cancer diagnostic companies, we are devoting an even greater share of our R&D budget to continue developing new oncology solutions.”
Today, GE Healthcare already offers a wide portfolio for oncology and a strategy that combines cellular research, medical imaging, laboratory diagnostics, biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies and information technology. These innovative technologies help researchers increase their understanding of the causes and progression of cancer and help physicians make more personalized cancer treatment and management decisions, while improving clinical outcomes and accelerating the delivery of care.
A key global healthcare challenge is the dramatic increase in cancer incidence around the world. According to World Health Organization data, cancer rates could increase by 50 percent, leading to 15 million new cases in 2020. From a clinical standpoint, the rapid increase in targeted and patient-specific cancer therapies is driving demand for molecular diagnostics.
The only way we can help clinicians beat cancer is to give them the tools to find it earlier, stage it better, and quantitatively measure response to therapy,” said GE Vice President and GE Healthcare Chief Technology Officer Mike Harsh, who oversees GE Healthcare’s global research and development efforts. “The integration of GE Healthcare’s expertise in imaging, analytics, diagnostics, cellular analysis, and healthcare IT is helping create technologies and solutions that can be used in a rural developing country or in a modern urban hospital.”