The research-based pharmaceutical industry continues to lead the development of innovative treatments and cures. Globally, this industry invested $58.8 billion in R&D in 2015. Through such significant investments, researchers and scientists have gained a better understanding of diseases and a greater ability to harness new scientific advances. This has led to tremendous progress in the development of new treatments for some of the most debilitating diseases.
More Than 7,000 medicines are in development around the world. The value of a medicine is directly related to value it brings to patients. Globally, patients are living longer, healthier and more productive lives. Take cancer. New therapies have contributed to significant declines in cancer mortality rates since its peak in 1991.
According to the Global Health Estimates 2015 for South Asia, compiled by the World Bank for the WHO, of the almost 12.4 million who died from all causes, more than 7.5 million people died from non-communicable diseases, compared with just over 3.5 million from communicable diseases. Cancer accounted for more than a million. A 2008 study, “The determinants of recent gains in cancer survival: an analysis of the surveillance, epidemiology, and end results (SEER) database,” in the Journal of Clinical Oncology revealed approximately 83% of survival gains in cancer are attributable to new treatments.
Hepatitis C virus is now curable in more than 90% of patients with only 8-12 weeks of treatment. In the ’80s, the cure rate was about 5%.
In the 1990s, patients were treated with Interferon to destroy the hepatitis C virus-containing liver cells; combining it with Ribavirin raised the cure rates to more than 50%. The investment in R&D for treatments in Hepatitis B and C continue to strengthen the WHO vision to eliminate these diseases by 2030.
The World Economic Forum estimates that unless current trends reverse, common ‘lifestyle’ diseases — cancer, diabetes, heart disease, lung disease and mental ailments — will cost $47 trillion in treatment and lost wages. However, innovation in science has led to a decline in death rates for non-communicable diseases by almost 20% in the EU5, Australia, Canada and Japan from 2000 to 2012. India’s National Health Policy aims to reduce premature mortality from cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases by 25% by 2025.
Innovative bio-pharmaceutical firms are currently developing 190 medicines to treat heart disease, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases. A study by the Alzheimer’s Association in the U.S. showed $376 billion in costs can be avoided by 2050 from the development of a new medicine that delays the onset of the disease by just five years.
From drug discovery to regulatory approval, developing a new medicine takes 10-15 years and costs $2.6 billion. Intellectual Property is the bedrock on which new drug development is built. It is critical to improve patient care and spur economic growth. Without strong IP protection, researchers may not have the motivation to innovate, leading to the treatments of tomorrow.
As we approach World IP Day on April 26, it is imperative for India to build an ecosystem conducive to innovation and creativity not only in terms of IP awareness and creation but also, more importantly, to recognise the importance of intellectual property in pharmaceutical development which has the ability to change the lives of millions of patients.
(The author is director- general, Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India)
