The executive committee under the leadership of of Dr. Manju Sheth of the Indian Medical Association of New England held its final event for the event on November 23, 2013.  The event was a classy gala featuring a keynote speech by Dr. Vikas Sukhatme.  

The event marked the transition of the executive committee. Dr. Manju Sheth handed the baton of the presidency over to Dr. Sajni Shah. Deputy Consul General Dr.  Devyani Khobragade, AAPI President Dr. Jayesh Shah and President-Elect Dr. Ravi Jagirdaar also attended the event. In addition, the event was attended by 19 Past Presidents.

Dr. Vikas Sukahtme’s speech focused on his work at Global Cures. He outlined the problems that Global Cures is trying to address. He talked about ideas in the healthcare field that become “Financial orphans”. “Financial orphans come in several flavors: one category is generic drugs that could be put to a new use.  A new use patent can be issued but a company having such a patent might still not elect to pursue its development. Why?  Because the cancer market might be small compared to the market for the old indication. The company could attempt to charge a significantly higher price for the new use of the drug, but this would be hard to enforce. If the new use had been placed in the public domain, and not patented in the first place, then there would be little to gain for a drug company to develop the idea since others could jump in at any time.  Ketorolac is one example, there are many others: beta blockers, cimetidine, proton pump inhibitors, ace-inhibitors, metformin, etc., even sildenafil. A second major category would be a nutraceutical, a supplement that is generally regarded as safe and for which no patent has been issued. Vitamin C, omega 3 fatty acids, zinc, selenium, etc.

Here is a third category: Lifestyle changes such as dietary manipulations or exercise or stress control are approaches on which clearly nobody is going to make a lot of money.

Is there a solution to this problem?  Is there a way to bring these promising therapies to patients you might ask?   Yes, there is.

"The simplest approach would be to work out a drug development paradigm not funded by the for-profit sector but instead by those who stand the most to lose i.e. you the patient, the consumer or perhaps even the insurance companies," said Dr. Sukhatme. This idea led him and his wife to start Global Cures. 

Further, the Annual Meeting also recognized the contributions of some of its members.

Dr. Dinesh Patel was honored with Distinguished Physician award; Dr. Salil Midha received the Community Service Award; Dr. Nasir Khan, Dr. Geeta Trivedi, Dr. Subha Thiagarajan, and Dr. Sapna Aggarwal all received the President Award.

The new committee was announced and Dr. Sajni Shah, the incoming President outlined her vision for the year. IMANE's new leadership team is also composed of president-elect Dr. Seema Arora, who will replace Shah in 2015. Other committee members include Dr. Sapna Aggarwal (secretary), Dr. Sameer Kapasi (treasurer), and Dr. Paul Mathew, Dr. Suresh Reddy, Dr. Devila Shah, Dr. Deepak Takhtani, and Dr. Anita Vanka (members at large). Other members include Dr. Manorma Mathur, Dr. Geeta Trivedi, Dr. Nasir Khan, Dr. Tejaswini Shah and Dr. Salil Midha (trustees), Dr. Kanu Patel (chairman of the nominating committee) and Dr. Neil Shah (Young Physicians Section representative).

The event came to a close with a fun entertainment program put together by Dr. Seema Arora and DJ Tej. The food was catered by Gourmet India.

Lokvani congratulates IMANE on its wonderful work and looks forward to the future growth of this organization.