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news.According to a new study released by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, much progress is being made to save and extend lives, prevent or slow disease progression, and reduce or control overall healthcare costs.
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The publication, “The Value of Medicines: Facts and Figures 2006,” compiles facts, trends and data that shows how prescription medicines are helping to improve the quality of healthcare for patients and to meeting America’s future healthcare needs.
The study highlights how prescription medicines help improve individual health and control overall healthcare costs by preventing disease, reducing the need for surgeries and long hospitalizations and speeding recovery.
Among the significant facts found in the publication are that new medicines generated 40% of the two-year gain in life expectancy achieved in 52 countries between 1986 and 2000, and AIDS death rates in the US dropped about 70% since the mid-1990s with the development of a new wave of medicines to treat HIV/AIDS.
In addition, available cancer medicines have tripled since 1971 and these new drugs account for 50% to 60% of the increases in six-year cancer survival rates since 1975, and cancer death rates decreased in 2003 – for the first time in 70 years.
“We are in the midst of a real healthcare revolution,” said Billy Tauzin, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) president and CEO. “Prescription medicines play a vital part in helping Americans stay healthy, fight disease, and live longer, more productive lives. Better yet, medicines now being developed will do even more to help patients and doctors treat conditions like diabetes, cancer, AIDS and Alzheimer’s disease, to name just a few.”
“By recognizing that prescription medicines are helping to make patients healthier, we can design healthcare policies that truly put patients first,” Mr Tauzin added.