BMS Joins SciTech Scity as Healthcare Innovation Lead Partner

On Dec 11, 2023

Liberty Science Center has announced that Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) is joining SciTech Scity’s Healthcare Innovation Engine effort as the Healthcare Innovation Lead Partner for the Biopharmaceutical Industry. BMS will work with the SciTech Scity team to identify how digital health devices can work in tandem with traditional pharmaceutical products to offer a more holistic and personalized approach to patient care.

Alongside other industry leaders and community representatives, this partnership is designed to better understand and address the structural barriers to digital health adoption and identify priority areas for innovation. This work will be done with startup companies to test and validate specific products and solutions, and conduct joint research efforts with the SciTech Scity academic ecosystem to collect the data needed to support broader adoption.

After decades of progress, life expectancy in the US has been decreasing since 2014. While COVID, opioids and gun violence have contributed to this downward spiral, it is chronic diseases – heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, respiratory afflictions, liver and kidney disease and others – that are the greatest culprits. A year-long examination by the Washington Post found that chronic diseases are killing more than twice as many Americans under age 65 as overdoses, homicides, suicides and car accidents combined. This mortality crisis is exacerbated by the country’s economic and racial divides. People in the poorest areas are 61% more likely to die early.

In the face of this mounting health crisis, Liberty Science Center’s SciTech Scity has launched the Healthcare Innovation Engine to bring together public and private stakeholders to work towards revolutionary solutions that cater to the specific challenges of vulnerable populations with an eye toward disease prevention.

“At BMS our mission is to discover, develop and deliver innovative medicines that help patients prevail over serious diseases,” said Al Reba, senior vice president, US cardiovascular & established brands at BMS and member of the Board of Trustees at LSC. “Digital health technology holds significant promise for transforming healthcare in America, particularly in underserved communities. That’s why we are partnering with Liberty Science Center on the groundbreaking SciTech Scity Healthcare Innovation Engine. By bringing our expertise and resources together with those of the engine’s other partners, we’re confident that we can spearhead bold solutions for a healthier country.”

“BMS’s unparalleled expertise in different chronic disease areas places them at the forefront of innovation, uniquely positioned to bridge the gap between traditional pharmaceuticals and cutting-edge digital health solutions, ultimately redefining patient care,” said Paul Hoffman, president and CEO of Liberty Science Center and the visionary leader behind SciTech Scity.

Hoffman explained that the overwhelming driver of the enormous healthcare costs in the US come from “SICKcare,” reactive, mostly hospital-based, point-in-time interventions when diseases are very advanced. But he declared, “the paramount societal challenge we must focus on now is the transformation of our current SICKcare system to true HEALTHcare that detects illnesses in their infancy, or prevents illnesses entirely, through cost effective digital home health technology.”

With BMS as Healthcare Innovation Lead Partner at SciTech Scity, transformative digital health technology will be developed in conjunction with LSC’s expansive university partner network, which includes Princeton, NJIT, Stevens Institute of Technology, Rowan, and NYU. This technology can be vetted in a hospital-of-the-future simulation center being created at SciTech Scity by Israel’s Sheba Medical Center, a world leader in healthcare innovation, and then tested in Scholars Village, the 500-unit residential housing at SciTech Scity. Controlled tests will also be conducted in nearby high-need communities to enhance the quality of healthcare services – all under the guidance of regulatory and governmental boards and agencies. Hudson County, where LSC is located, is New Jersey’s most densely populated and fastest-growing county, and also one of the most diverse counties in the entire US. It also ranks particularly high on measures of “health vulnerability” and needs innovative healthcare solutions.

“To advance the SICKcare-to-HEALTHcare vision, we are establishing a diverse ecosystem of partners, including universities, hospital systems, public health authorities, and pharmaceutical and medical technology companies,” Hoffman said. “Only through such a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary approach will we be able to transform a problem as pervasive as structural issues around healthcare access in America. So my deepest gratitude goes to Bristol Myers Squibb for agreeing to be Healthcare Innovation Lead Partner and bring its extensive knowledge and expertise.”

BMS joins EY in its leadership commitment to SciTech Scity’s Healthcare Innovation Engine. EY recently signed on as the Lead Orchestrator and will provide significant resources and a team of global experts to help operate the program.

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