David Ricks criticises Europe’s traditional health systems for being misaligned with modern medicine, calling for reforms to prioritise early intervention and real-time technology assessment at Lilly’s European conference.
David Ricks has cast Europe’s health systems as badly misaligned with the way modern medicine now works, arguing that they were built to respond to illness after it appears rather than to stop it from developing in the first place. Speaking at Lilly’s State of Health dialogue on the sidelines of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes meeting in Milan, the Eli Lilly chief said policymakers should stop trying to force preventive care through structures designed for acute treatment and should instead rethink budgets, rules and reimbursement models around earlier intervention.
The discussion brought together international participants who focused on familiar pressure points in diabetes care, including late diagnosis, uneven access to new treatments and the patchwork of national pricing systems across Europe. Ricks suggested that the continent’s more centralised health structures, which he said are sometimes underused, could actually speed the rollout of new therapies if governments were willing to adopt a more flexible approach. He also argued for a “measure-while-doing” mindset, in which new technologies are introduced and assessed in real time rather than held up by lengthy forecasting exercises.
The meeting took place as the European Commission launched EU Screening Week and advanced a proposal for a Council recommendation on cardiovascular health checks. Tadej Battelino, who chairs the European region of the International Diabetes Federation, told attendees that Europe’s wealth gives it a moral duty to back screening programmes and put the recommendation into practice. The Commission has said that health checks are central to prevention, pointing out that more than three-quarters of cardiovascular deaths are tied to modifiable risk factors such as diabetes and obesity. The International Diabetes Federation estimates that 65 million people in Europe are living with diabetes, while about one in three adults do not know they have the condition.
Ricks framed the policy challenge as one of near-term funding and long-term demographics, saying governments often balk at prevention because the savings are not immediate. His answer was to reallocate spending towards stopping disease earlier, rather than waiting until people need costlier care later on. That message echoed comments he has made elsewhere in Europe, where Business Standard reported that he criticised the United Kingdom’s drug pricing regime as too restrictive and warned that it could discourage companies from bringing new medicines to market. Spanish outlet El Español also reported that he questioned whether Europe truly wants innovation if it is unwilling to pay for it, adding that Lilly did not expect growth in Spain because of resistance to financing products such as Mounjaro and Kisunla.
Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical judgment, advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
