Older people can more easily connect with their families
Older people struggle with technology for different reasons. They may be unable to use a tablet or a phone – perhaps because it’s too different to what they’re used to, but it also may be because they cannot see the screen properly, or it isn’t responsive to their fingers due to poor circulation.
No Isolation built a computer called KOMP that has just one button. Even people with dementia should be able to recognise a big button easily, Dolva said, so older people can push it on and off and be connected to the rest of the family in an instant.
“All of a sudden we’ve made them online,” she said. “We try and bring them into the same platform as everyone else, without changing the habits of the younger generations.”
The burden of loneliness is incredibly high. Studies have shown how the stress of being lonely has a bad impact on your heart, and it can affect your brain and body in many harmful ways.
Finding the ‘price tag’ of loneliness
This isn’t just bad for the people who are lonely, but for society too. That’s why Dolva says she wants to find the “pricetag of loneliness” to really push them forwards.
That means calculating the cost of what happens if a child gets diagnosed with cancer at eight, then isn’t able to go to school for two or three years.
“What’s the likelihood of dropping out of school, and what’s the likelihood of getting a job if you drop out of school?” Dolva said. “Same with the seniors. If we manage to increase [their] quality of life, and enable them to stay at home for a week, two weeks, maybe a couple of months longer, what does that mean for the government in numbers?
“I want those numbers because that’s the only way we can keep really pushing the market in front of us.”
The causes of loneliness are hard to measure, because there are so many different factors for different age groups. Older people are isolated from their family and have lost many of their friends. Younger people, like millennials, may be more affected by looking on social media.
Whatever it is, Dolva said the research shows a connection between loneliness and our expectations compared to reality.
“For example, you would feel more lonely if you were alone on a Saturday than on a Tuesday night,” she said. “Because your expectation level is much higher on a Saturday. And this might be something that social media has increased… We continuously see other people doing a lot of things, so we feel like everyone is doing something all the time, and we should too.”
- Kids playing football, while their friend watches with an AV1.
- No Isolation
But blaming technology for our problems isn’t the answer, she said. Instead, it’s about looking at where it falls short and demanding for it to be better.
“You could start to question whether or not social media is social at all,” Dolva said. “If you drill down and see what social media was meant to do, and what is at the core business there, it has nothing to do with long conversations or close relations… social networks have not been made to increase the value of the friends that you have.”
Ultimately it doesn’t matter if you have two, 20, or 100 friends. Your social satisfaction depends on how close you are to the ones you have, and to what extent you meet your expectation levels. If you’re happy with the amount of time you spend with your two close friends, then you won’t feel lonely.
“It’s the second you start thinking I want more, I wish I could do this tonight, but I don’t have anyone to talk to about that – that’s when we start experiencing that we’re lonely,” Dolva said.
A lot more people need help
Four months after starting up, No Isolation rolled out 20 prototypes of the AV1 robot, and immediately the team were receiving emails from moms and dads. The same happened with the KOMP screen for older people. People were getting in touch saying how wonderful it was that they could now be connected to their grandparents in such an easy way.
“We’ve been saying amongst ourselves as long as we help one more kid we will succeed,” said Dolva. “If we can do that by bringing one more unit out then that’s a success.”
Somewhere between 20 and 40% of the population experience loneliness, so there’s more than enough people to take them.
“I think we have our hands full if we want to help them all,” Dolva said. “But that would be the end goal… That people aren’t suffering from loneliness anymore.”
- coffee prince/Shutterstock
Drug companies have been hit hard this year.
Public opinion, trust and reputation of pharmaceutical companies appear to be eroding, according to a new analysis from the research consulting firm Reputation Institute.
Pharma giants saw a 3.7% decline in reputation score from last year. There was also a significant decline in the public’s perception of the transparency, openness and authenticity of drugmakers.
The points are calculated from 2,608 individual ratings on seven areas: products and services, innovation, workplace, governance, citizenship, leadership, and financial performance. These contribute to companies’ “RepTrak” score. Overall, of the 22 pharma companies ranked, Sanofi was number one and Pfizer was last.
Here are the companies ranked from worst to best based on perception.
22. Pfizer. RepTrak Points: 54.5
- FILE PHOTO – A company logo is seen through branches at a Pfizer office in Dublin
- REUTERS/Adam Hunger
Pfizer had the lowest reputational score among the pharmaceutical companies that Reputation Institute looked at, based on the general public’s perception of product, prices and public hospitality. It was reported in May that Pfizer used charity to mask a heart drug price hike. Pfizer also had a huge role in the drug shortage crisis, according to Fortune.
The drug giant is now taking some new risks and dipping its toes into some uncharted scientific territories like gene therapy and cancer immunotherapy.
“Pfizer’s reputation has remained consistent since 2017 and is on par with our multinational biopharmaceutical peers given the variance in reputation scores is limited. We look forward to continuing to educate our stakeholders about Pfizer’s mission to discover new medicines and to ensure patients have access to them,” Pfizer representatives said in an email statement to Business Insider.
21. GlaxoSmithKline. RepTrak Points: 57.4
- GSK CEO Emma Walmsley
- Reuters via handout
GSK just welcomed the first female big pharma CEO onboard in 2017. With that, came a reshuffling of 40% of the company’s top management team in a bid to bring in new ideas.
The drugmaker has seen increased competition in its core businesses: repirtatory and HIV treatments. It entered into an open rivalry with Gilead over HIV drugs in November 2017.
In April, the company’s shingles vaccine was recommended by the US Center for Disease Control.
However, in May, regulators in Europe and the US issued warnings about a link between the company’s HIV drug, Tivicay, and certain birth defects. But just last month, the company’s two drug HIV met goals in late-stage studies.
“At GSK, our purpose is to help people do more, feel better and live longer and we accomplish this with our innovative medicines and vaccines. We have a legacy of ensuring people have access to our medicines and our vaccines, and we lead the pharmaceutical industry in the fight against so-called super bugs – all of which has been recognized by the Access to Medicine Foundation,” GSK said in an email statement to Business Insider.
20. Merck. RepTrak Points: 58.4
Famous for drugs like Keytruda, Merck has had a bit of a comeback as a winner at ASCO with its positive melanoma data. But the company has had its share of bad headlines as well. In May 2017, Merck paid $60.2 million to resolve a lawsuit about its practices to delay entrance of generic drugs into the market. Merck was also accused that month of operating an anti-competition scheme. In August 2017, Trump called out Merck’s CEO about lowering drug prices and increasing transparency in their operations. Merck, along with GSK and Pfizer were the only pharmaceutical companies to have a “weak” score, while the rest had “average” or “strong” reputations.
19. Mylan. RepTrak Points: 61.2
- Mylan CEO Heather Bresch
- CBS screenshot
It’s been a bumpy year for Mylan. The drugmaker faced scrutiny over its EpiPen recalls, followed by outcry over generic drug pricing. In June, however, Mylan scored a key approval for a biosimilar version of the drug Neulasta, which could help save the US billions.
18. Takeda. RepTrak Points: 61.6
- Workers at the new Takeda pharma factory wait for the arrival of German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Oranienburg, Germany, June 16, 2017.
Over the past year, Japanese drugmaker Takeda has been growing its global presence, first by sealing a deal with Ariad Pharmaceutics and then acquiring Shire, the maker of Adderall, for $64 billion.
17. Teva. RepTrak Points: 64.3
- Workers of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries stand at the entrance to their facility in Ashdod, Israel
- Thomson Reuters
The Israeli company is a huge manufacturer of generic drugs. In December 2017, it cut 25% of its workforce, but its stock got a bump in February after Warren Buffett declared a stake in it.
16. AstraZeneca. RepTrak Points: 64.3
- FILE PHOTO: The logo of AstraZeneca is seen on medication packages in a pharmacy in London
- Thomson Reuters
AZ, known for producing Crestor – a drug that treats high cholesterol and triglyceride levels – saw a win in lung cancer data in May this year, but suffered a setback from an Alzheimer’s drug in June that failed to show signs of working.
15. Eli Lilly. RepTrak Points: 66.0
Lilly is the producer of Cymbalta, a drug widely used for depression. The company was also part of the cohort that had to jump ship on its Alzheimer’s drug.
14. Boehringer Ingelheim. RepTrak Points: 66.4
- Wikimedia Commons
The German pharmaceutical firm manufactures drugs not only for humans but for their pets as well. The company is now partnering up with some other big names to develop anti-diabetic medication.
13. Bristol-Myers Squibb. RepTrak Points: 66.7
BMS is making a big bet its new investments into immunotherapy-combination drugs for combating cancer.
12. Roche. RepTrak Points: 67.4
- FILE PHOTO: The logo of Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche is seen outside their headquarters in Basel, Switzerland.
- Thomson Reuters
Swiss drug company Roche is still one of the biggest in the world. In February, it acquired Flatiron Health, a cancer technology startup for $1.9 billion.
11. Amgen. RepTrak Points: 67.9
- FILE PHOTO: An Amgen sign is seen at the company’s office in South San Francisco
- Thomson Reuters
Amgen got a big win in May when the FDA approved its preventive migraine drug Aimovig, which is the first of a new class of medications that’s going after the huge migraine market.
10. McKesson. RepTrak Points: 68.7
- Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
McKesson distributes not only drugs, but also health IT, medical supplies and care management tools. In June, the company reduced the CEO’s pay by 10% after investors revolted.
9. Novo Nordisk. RepTrak Points: 68.8
- Novo Nordisk logo is seen in Bagsvaerd outside of Copenhagen
- Thomson Reuters
The Danish company is known as a diabetes drug giant. The turbulent US market forced it to lay off 3,000 people and axe its long term growth plan.
8. Allergan. RepTrak Points: 69.8
- The Allergan logo is seen in this photo illustration in Singapore
- Thomson Reuters
The Botox-maker has had a rocky relationship with its investors this year. It’s been actively refreshing its board, and just last month, it announced its plan to sell off two of its non-core businesses to appease investors. In June, the company presented positive data in a glaucoma candidate and meet goals with its oral migraine drug.
7. Gilead. RepTrak Points: 70.1
Gilead has historically been focused on antiviral drugs to treat diseases like HIV and hepatitis C. But earlier this year, it just made a huge bet on an experimental gene-editing technology for cancer treatments.
6. Bayer. RepTrak Points: 70.7
- FILE PHOTO: The logo of Bayer AG is pictured at the Bayer Healthcare subgroup production plant in Wuppertal
- Thomson Reuters
Best known for making aspirin, the German company is also throwing its hat in the ring to bet on gene therapies. In June, Bayer finalized its $66 billion merger with agriculture giant Monsanto, which has farmers worried.
5. Biogen. RepTrak Points: 72.0
- FILE PHOTO: A sign marks a Biogen facility in Cambridge
- Thomson Reuters
The company specializes in treatments for neurodegenerative, blood-based, and autoimmune diseases. Althought it hasn’t made many major moves this past year, it’s still a major player when it comes to its neuroscience pipeline. Early this year, it sold its hemophilia drug maker company, Bioverativ, to Sanofi for $11.6 billion.
4. AbbVie. RepTrak Points: 72.3
The Humira-maker spun out of of Abbott Laboratories back in 2013. Recently, its rheumatoid arthritis drug successfully completed a late-stage trial. AbbVie was ranked first in last year’s list, but has fallen back a few spots this year.
3. Celgene. RepTrak Points: 72.5
- Courtesy of Celgene
Celgene specializes in drugs for cancer and inflammatory diseases, known for its treatment of multiple myeloma. However, in February, the company hit a major setback with its multiple sclerosis drug.
2. Genentech. RepTrak Points: 74.0
A subsidary of Roche, Genentech is investing in a new way to treat Alzheimer’s. It also recently made a $534 million deal with Microbiotica to research gut bacteria in hopes of developing new treatments for inflammatory bowel disease.
1. Sanofi. RepTrak Points: 74.6
- Sanofi’s Chief Executive Officer Olivier Brandicourt
- Benoit Tessier/Reuters
Sanofi’s winning characteristics lies in its promotion of ethics and transparency, according to Reputation Institute. Sanofi has in the past year promised to limit price increases and disclose “transparency reports” behind overall costs of its drugs.