Longevity has\u00a0emerged\u00a0as a major focus across health and wellness conversations in recent years.\u00a0Around the world, people are searching for ways to extend both lifespan and\u00a0healthspan\u00a0\u2013\u00a0through\u00a0new technologies, diets, and lifestyles. Thousands of people flock to longevity summits,\u00a0and\u00a0social\u00a0feeds are filled with advice on cold plunges, peptides, and cellular reprogramming.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But amid the excitement, Novartis US President Victor\u00a0Bult\u00f3\u00a0offered\u00a0a different perspective. One of the most powerful\u00a0secrets\u00a0for\u00a0living longer, better lives is not futuristic\u00a0\u2014\u202fit\u2019s\u00a0something we already have.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest lever to longevity beats in our chest,\u201d\u00a0Bult\u00f3\u00a0said.\u00a0\u201c[And]\u00a0technology that can add, on average, 10 years of good life\u00a0to about half the people sitting in this room already exists.\u00a0It’s\u00a0broadly available\u00a0and\u00a0it’s\u00a0broadly affordable.\u00a0So why aren\u2019t we using it at scale?,\u201d he\u00a0asked the health leaders gathered at the\u00a0TIME100 Health Impact\u00a0Dinner in New York City on\u00a0February 19, 2026.<\/p>\n
The biggest lever to longevity beats in our chest. And technology that can add, on average, 10 years of good life\u00a0to about half the people sitting in this room already exists.<\/p>\n
– Novartis US President Victor\u00a0Bult\u00f3<\/p>\n
It was\u00a0a challenge that\u00a0reframed\u00a0the conversation around\u00a0longevity.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bult\u00f3\u2019s\u00a0message was clear:\u00a0Preventing cardiovascular disease\u00a0using the\u00a0tools we have\u00a0is the key to helping people live\u00a0longer, healthier lives. But\u00a0individual efforts alone\u00a0won\u2019t\u00a0end\u00a0preventable heart disease.\u00a0Instead,\u00a0we need to\u00a0complement\u00a0medical science with social science\u00a0to\u00a0make\u00a0prevention\u00a0compelling, accessible,\u00a0and easy\u00a0for everyone.\u00a0And we need\u00a0to\u00a0rewire\u00a0economic\u00a0incentives\u00a0to make\u00a0prevention the default rather than the exception\u00a0in\u00a0healthcare. Novartis is committed to helping\u00a0convene\u00a0stakeholders across the healthcare ecosystem to help drive this movement.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Heart\u00a0Health Is Central to Longevity and Healthy Aging\u00a0<\/p>\n
Heart health plays\u00a0a central role\u00a0in how long and how fully we live. A healthy heart supports\u00a0the brain, slows\u00a0cellular aging,\u00a0and helps preserve\u00a0energy\u00a0and independence,\u00a0which\u00a0can\u00a0make longer lives\u00a0more\u00a0meaningful.\u00a0If your heart is healthy, you\u00a0can\u00a0gain more years doing the things that matter most \u2014 time with family, shared experiences, and everyday moments that define a life well lived.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
And yet, despite decades of scientific\u00a0and medical\u00a0progress,\u00a0cardiovascular disease\u00a0remains\u00a0the number one killer\u00a0worldwide.\u00a0Even though\u00a080%\u00a0of\u00a0cardiovascular disease\u00a0could be\u00a0prevented with\u00a0available medicines\u00a0and lifestyle changes,\u00a0one person\u00a0in the US dies from\u00a0cardiovascular disease\u00a0every 34 seconds1,2.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So, the issue\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0a lack of tools.\u00a0What\u2019s\u00a0missing is collective action.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The High Price of Focusing on Sickness Rather than Prevention\u00a0<\/p>\n
Victor Bult\u00f3 speaks at the Time 100 Health Impact Dinner about advancing cardiovascular care and long-term health outcomes.<\/p>\n
Advances in\u00a0medicine,\u00a0data, genetics,\u00a0and artificial intelligence\u00a0now allow us to\u00a0predict risk, personalize interventions,\u00a0and act long before\u00a0most people experience\u00a0a\u00a0cardiovascular\u00a0crisis.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
At Novartis,\u00a0we\u00a0have helped\u00a0to\u00a0advance the scientific understanding of cardiovascular disease and deliver breakthrough innovations for the past four decades, always guided by the needs of the patients we serve.\u00a0By building\u00a0on\u00a0leading\u00a0science and technology and going further to\u00a0push\u00a0what\u2019s\u00a0possible so more people benefit,\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0using the latest\u00a0innovations,\u00a0such\u00a0as\u00a0xRNA\u00a0therapies,\u00a0to tackle real-world problems where significant unmet needs exist.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Between\u00a0proven treatments,\u00a0new technologies,\u00a0and emerging\u00a0medical and behavioral\u00a0science,\u00a0society has\u00a0an unprecedented ability to\u00a0predict\u00a0and\u00a0prevent\u00a0cardiovascular disease\u00a0and death.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
But\u00a0Bult\u00f3\u00a0reminded us that\u00a0breakthroughs only matter if\u00a0we have\u00a0systems\u00a0that are\u00a0built to use them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2019Now, if we think about the healthcare system today, in most developed countries today, we are reimbursed for treating an event,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd that creates an environmental nudge to treat events. Why is the avoidance of an event not reimbursed?\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Fragmented care and misaligned economic incentives concentrate resources on treating people experiencing a health crisis rather than keeping them healthy. In the US, for example,\u00a0less than 3% of health spending goes toward preventive care, even as the cost of cardiovascular disease is projected to exceed\u00a0$1 trillion\u00a0annually by 20353,4.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Building a Movement for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention through Collaboration<\/p>\n
Bult\u00f3\u00a0reminded us that no single organization or partnership can reinvent how we address preventable heart disease. Effective action means aligning clinicians, health systems, payers, policymakers, employers, and communities around prevention and meeting people where they live and work.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you speak with behavioral scientists and behavioral economists, they all tell you there are two ways in which you can change behavior at scale in a sustainable way,\u201d he said. \u201cThe first factor is creating the right default. If you make doing the right thing easier, more people will do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Advice\u00a0has to\u00a0come from someone you trust.\u00a0That\u2019s\u00a0how we change behavior.<\/p>\n
– Novartis US President Victor\u00a0Bult\u00f3\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the second one is trust.\u00a0Advice has to come from someone you trust.\u00a0That’s\u00a0how we change behavior. Through pharmacies, through employers, through physicians, through family, through those who are trusted to help set up the right defaults in cardiovascular care.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Given that trust is a necessity for this work,\u00a0Novartis has long prioritized collaboration to make prevention part of everyday life and close persistent gaps in access. Together with the Global Coalition on Aging, we launched\u00a0engAGE with Heart<\/a>\u00a0 in 2023 to deliver community-based health education and preventive cardiovascular screenings in Baltimore, MD. Through partnerships with churches and senior centers, the program has catalyzed lasting health improvements,\u00a0including achieving 96% self-reported lifestyle changes and 79% increased trust in healthcare access\u2014while securing government recognition and funding through the Maryland state legislature to sustain the model.\u00a0Novartis has also partnered with\u00a0Meharry Medical College<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0Nashville, TN,\u00a0to advance community-based cardiovascular screening and address disparities in heart health outcomes.\u00a0<\/p>\n Making Prevention Personal\u00a0<\/p>\n We all know someone affected by cardiovascular disease. They are our parents, friends, partners, coworkers, and neighbors. Many of us are patients, too. Too often, it takes away time and quality of life when people should be able to enjoy their most meaningful years. The question is no longer whether we can help more people live longer and fuller lives, but whether we\u2019re willing to act earlier together\u2014and Novartis is working to do just that by investigating partnerships with employers and community pharmacies to bring heart-health screening, education, and support closer to where people live and work. Learn more about our ongoing work\u00a0in\u00a0cardiovascular\u00a0disease\u00a0here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Longevity has\u00a0emerged\u00a0as a major focus across health and wellness conversations in recent years.\u00a0Around the world, people are searching…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33218,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[127],"tags":[9554,6901,2109,19701,19702,2098,212,2100,19705,8081,19703,2105,2108,4461,206,2104,2099,2103,19704,2107,2106,2101,2102],"class_list":["post-33217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-novartis","tag-cardiovascular-disease","tag-cardiovascular-health","tag-cell-therapy","tag-disease-awareness","tag-disease-eradication","tag-future-of-healthcare","tag-gene-therapy","tag-global-healthcare-companies","tag-healthy-aging","tag-heart-disease","tag-heart-health","tag-innovative-healthcare","tag-innovative-medicines","tag-longevity","tag-novartis","tag-novartis-oncology-pipeline","tag-novartis-pharmaceuticals","tag-oncology-drug-development","tag-preventive-care","tag-rare-disease-patients","tag-rare-disease-treatment","tag-sandoz","tag-sandoz-pharmaceuticals"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33217\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}