Biopharmaceutical innovation: Benefits and challenges
Abstract In our modern world there is an urgent need for new discoveries and development in bio drugs field. It is obviously remarkable that the continuous development and appearance of viruses and microbes and the emergence of different types of diseases pushes both the science-technology and biopharmaceutical sectors to collaborate with each other to innovate and develop new bio drugs to face this dilemma and serve the interest of all mankind healthcare, lead to an increase in the lifetime expectancy, good fast cure, facilitate the patient’s life in different sectors. Indeed the biopharmaceutical innovation is facing a lot of challenges and confronting several difficulties before
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For instance, as we know every bio drugs goes through many stages before the marketing , Among these stages is the clinical stages, this new medicines should be tested on the animal sample before being marketed , sometimes there are a shortage and lack of this animal samples because there are some associations and Animal Rights Authority which consider the use of some animals in clinical tests or other scientific purpose can torture and give pain to that animals and consider this as an unethical issue, this resulting the rise of use human sample during doing clinical tests, this is a big challenge which the biopharmaceutical innovation is facing …show more content…
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The European Union (composed of 28 European countries) and India have both banned animal testing in their countries. The European Union has stated that animal testing is unnecessary which is proven by the Food and Drug Administration proved that 92% of all products that reacted positively in animals were harmful or ineffective in humans as we are two completely different species! Albeit, keep in mind that this 92% is a part of the rare drugs that are found to be effective or even safe for animals. In addition, many people may be concerned that we may have to test out new products on humans instead of animals. The thing is that we already do. For the reason that animal testing is so unreliable, someone will have to, some time or another, be the person to test the specific drug.
The United States of America accounts for only 5% of the world’s population, yet as a nation, we devour over 50% of the world’s pharmaceutical medication and around 80% of the world’s prescription narcotics (American Addict). The increasing demand for prescription medication in America has evoked a national health crisis in which the government and big business benefit at the expense of the American public.
In America, it has become a battle to earn a high paying job to cope with the expenses of a typical American. It has become even more of a battle for some people to afford medical prescriptions to keep healthy. Health becomes a crucial issue when discussed among people. No matter what, at one point or another, everyone is going to stand as a victim of the pharmaceutical industry. The bottom line is Americans are paying excessive amounts of money for medical prescriptions. Health-Care spending in the U.S. rose a stunning 9.3% in 2002, which is the greatest increase for the past eleven years. (Steele 46) Many pharmaceutical companies are robbing their clients by charging extreme rates for their products.
Prescription drug prices rose three times faster than inflation in the decade between 1981 and 1991, making the pharmaceutical industry the nation's most profitable business. Prescription drugs even exceeded the rapidly rising inflation rate for all other medical services. They now represent at least 10% of all the medical costs in the United States.1
Alzheimer’s disease is a complex illness that affects the brain tissue directly and undergoes gradual memory and behavioral changes which makes it difficult to diagnose. It is known to be the most common form of dementia and is irreversible. Over four million older Americans have Alzheimer’s, and that number is expected to triple in the next twenty years as more people live into their eighties and nineties. (Johnson, 1989). There is still no cure for Alzheimer’s but throughout the past few years a lot of progress has been made.
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Over the past decade, scientists have made significant advancements in the treatment of certain diseases. Unfortunately, just like any new product, the cost of developing these new technologies and treatments is extremely high. Plus, unlike other technology, heath technolo...
Imagine having a headache and not having aspirin to take, or being diabetic and not being able to take certain types of insulin (Williams 3). It seems impossible that these drugs could be unavailable to humans, but they would not be attainable had scientists not tested these drugs on non-animal subjects. Contrary to what many people believe, testing drugs on animals often give defective results. “More than 205,000 new drugs are marketed worldwide every year, most undergo the most archaic and unreliable testing methods still in use: animal studies” (PETA 1). Although animals may seem the like ideal specimens for testing new drugs, the experiments are untrustworthy and can cause unknown side effects.
...hed and streamlined to allow for earlier diagnosis. In the case of tertiary prevention, the pharmaceutical companies have a huge financial incentive to create a cure for Alzheimer’s but that is not enough. More government funded research should be dedicated towards finding methods to delay or cure Alzheimer’s disease. The baby boomer generation has already entered their 60’s. As people live longer, as a result of new treatments for common killers such as heart disease and cancer, the chances that they will succumb to Alzheimer’s increases. Failing to find preventative or curative measures will be costly. On a personal level, Alzheimer’s disease slowly attacks cognitive function-the higher thought processes; individuals degenerate into infantile dependents. The cost of caring for increasing numbers of such dependents will be a burden on both family and society.
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There is alternatives without testing or torturing the animals. These non-animal methods usually take less time to complete, cost a fraction of what the animal experiments would be and they are not plagued with species differences that make extrapolation difficult of impossible. Effective, affordable, and humane research methods include studies of human populations, volunteers, and patients as well as sophisticated in vitro, genomic, and computer-modeling techniques. Companies that are exploring modern alternatives. Some companies are only using human tissues and sophisticated computer technology in the process of drug development and testing. Some companies say that discovery process is much more efficient with human tissues instead of animal tissue.
Animal testing is one the most beyond cruelty against animals. It is estimated about 7 million innocent animals are electrocuted, blinded, scalded, force-fed chemicals, genetically manipulated, killed in the name of science. By private institutions, households products, cosmetics companies, government agencies, educational institutions and scientific centers. From the products we use every day, such as soap, make-up, furniture polish, cleaning products, and perfumes. Over 1 million dogs, cats, primates, sheep, hamsters and guinea pigs are used in labs each year. Of those, over 86,000 are dogs and cat. All companies are most likely to test on animals to make patients feel safe and are more likely to trust medicines if they know they have been tested on animals first (PETA, N.D, page 1). These tests are done only to protect companies from consumer lawsuits. Although it’s not quite true, Humans and animals don’t always react in the same way to drugs. In the UK an estimated 10,000 people are killed or severely disabled every year by unexpected reactions to drugs, all these drugs have passed animal tests. Animal testing is often unpredictable in how products will work on people. Some estimates say up to 92 percent of tests passed on animals failed when tried on humans (Procon.org, 2014, page 1). Animal testing can’t show all the potential uses for a drug. The test results are...
...ents expiring as drugs become available at cheaper costs and therefore more people can gain access to these drugs, including 3rd world countries. It is clear to see that there are many pros and cons to patents in the pharmaceutical industry. The system that is in motion at present between the big pharmaceutical companies, the generics industry and the WHO seems to be working efficiently. Some may complain that the pharmaceutical companies are creating too big a monopoly and are greedy but without them discovery of new medicines wouldn’t happen. Patents have thus far ensured that inventors and researchers reap economic rewards for their work and new treatments and new medicines are made available on a regular basis. Essentially without patents there would be no innovation and discovery of new medicines. And without that we would be no better off than we are now.
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