Medical Advances

America’s biopharmaceutical research companies lead the world in the discovery and development of new medicines. The medicines developed over the past several decades -- and the medical advances they represent -- have revolutionized the battle against disease and have saved and improved lives around the world.

Across the board, the numbers demonstrate the effect that medical advances have on patients. Life expectancy is at record levels. Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Mark McClellan said, “New drugs are no small part of this medical miracle.”

For example, according to one study, medicines and intervention treatments contributed to a 45 percent decline in deaths by heart attack and heart failure from 1999 to 2005. Death rates from cancers also have steadily declined, with one major study reporting that new medicines account for 50 percent to 60 percent of survival increases.

One particularly compelling example is HIV/AIDS. Just 15 years after the disease was first reported in the United States, highly active antiretroviral treatment became widely available, drastically lowering the number of U.S. AIDS deaths. In 1995, there were 16.2 AIDS deaths per 100,000 people in America. Within two years, that number had dropped to six, and by 2007, it was 3.7. Now, thanks to continued advances in HIV/AIDS therapies, the disease that was first seen as a death sentence is now a controllable condition.

Sometimes, the health progress from medicines is seen in improvements to quality of life as much as in survival. After three years, half of untreated Alzheimer’s disease patients are placed in nursing homes, compared with just 11 percent of patients receiving treatment.

Perhaps above all else, real advances give patients one essential ingredient for survival: hope.

Progress helps each individual patient who benefits from innovative new medicines, but it also can improve health care overall by helping patients maintain their health and by cutting overall costs. One study found that the development of a new treatment that delays the onset of Alzheimer’s could reduce Medicare and Medicaid spending on patients with Alzheimer’s by more than $100 billion annually by 2030.

A separate study found that annual costs for diabetes care can be up to 48 percent lower for patients who take their diabetes medicines properly. In a population of 24 million patients with diabetes -- among whom only one-quarter control the disease -- the potential cost savings associated with better diabetes care could be significant.

Research and the progress that it yields is ongoing, with more than 2,900 medicines currently in development. Today’s potential new medicine may become tomorrow’s new cure.

Resources

Medicines in Development
This database includes medicines currently in clinical trials or at the FDA for review. All the information is courtesy of Wolters Kluwer Health’s Adis R&D Insight database and has not been reviewed or verified by PhRMA. Search by drug name, disease or company. Also see the list of new medicines approved in 2010 [PDF].

New Medicines Transforming Patient Care
In the last ten years over 300 new medicines have been approved by the FDA. These medicines are helping patients live longer, healthier lives. They are transforming many cancers into treatable conditions, reducing the impact of cardiovascular disease, offering new options for patients with hard-to‐treat diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, and fighting even the rarest conditions.