It can cost up to 2.9 billion US dollars just to come up with a new drug for pharmaceutical companies to combat chronic diseases, said Bharath B. Aggarwal, professor of Cancer Medicine, University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer Centre, Texas, USA, here on Saturday.
Delivering a lecture on ‘Targeting pro-inflammatory diseases by curcumin, a constituent of Indian golden spice’ here, organised by the Federation of Asian Biotech Association (FABA), Prof. Aggarwal said, “No matter which cancer or chronic disease it is, there is an inflammatory component in it, and there is no better way to control it better, than with spices.”
Prof. Aggarwal mentioned that Americans know the importance of spices, but don’t know how to use them.
“There are a lot of cancer survivors and patients, who attend the programmes we conduct,” he said, and further stated that America has the highest number of people affected by diabetes, obesity, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
“Ninety per cent of those affected with lung cancer are smokers for example, while 30 per cent of all cancers in the UK and 50 per cent in India are caused by tobacco,” he stated.
Prof. Aggarwal further added that the chronic illness is a lifestyle disease and not a genetic one. “And now, since outlets such as McDonalds and Subway are coming here, India will also witness an increase in cancer cases in the coming 10 years,” he asserted.
