Unfortunately, Olga has seen how devastating a lack of innovation can be for patients as well.
Olga Phillips is a retired health care worker from Chatham County, North Carolina. She was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and came to the United States as a teenager with her mother.
Later in life, Olga spent 10+ years working as a case worker, working specifically with minority women. In this role, Olga saw firsthand the power that innovation could bring to patients who needed it most. Throughout her time, she was able to help thousands of people, thanks in part to the significant medical advancements in the health care and biopharmaceutical industries.
Alisa’s father passed away due to complications from ALD at age 56. When Justin was born with the same condition, she prayed for a miracle and became an advocate for scientific innovation so her son would not succumb to the same fate as her father.
After more than 19 years managing his condition at home, it has been a challenge for Justin to manage his adrenal insufficiency on his own during his first year of college. Without working adrenal glands, Justin’s body cannot fight off the disease. As long as Justin is not under any stress, his symptoms are manageable. When stress ensues, it is vital Justin has access to steroid medications to ensure his adrenal glands work properly.
Unfortunately, Olga has seen how devastating a lack of innovation can be for patients as well.
Just last year, Olga lost her husband to brain cancer after being told by doctors that the current tools and technology would be insufficient in helping her husband recover from his diagnosis. Brain cancer treatment and research is complicated by the blood-brain barrier, which is designed to keep chemicals in the blood from getting into the brain, including anti-cancer treatments. The loss of her husband made her acutely aware of the need for continued biopharmaceutical innovation and where treatments are available, for patients to access them.
After the loss of her husband, Olga became committed to supporting and protecting medical innovation by advocating against legislation that could stifle the development of new, life-saving treatments. She has also become a key advocate for protecting access to new innovations, as she knows just how critical they can be for patients with life-threatening diagnoses.
She values the work that the biopharmaceutical industry is doing to help put an end to the COVID-19 pandemic, as she herself contracted the virus in early 2020 and was vaccinated as soon as she was able. Olga feels blessed to have received her vaccination, and now, she wants to help the biopharmaceutical industry put the pandemic behind us by protecting the innovation that has made an end in sight possible.
At a time when new developments by the biopharmaceutical industry are critical, Olga is disappointed that policymakers in Congress are pushing for changes that would impact the medical innovation and access that she values so much. Government price setting would have negative consequences for biopharmaceutical innovation and patient access, and Olga is fiercely opposed to measures that puts those values at risk.
As a mother of three, grandmother of six, and great-grandmother of three, Olga is committed to advocating for continued innovation so that future generations can have access to even more life-saving treatments and cures.
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