Better Management More Important in RA than New Drugs

By Judith Groch, Contributing Writer, MedPage Today Published: November 26, 2008 Reviewed by Zalman S. Agus, MD; Emeritus Professor  University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Earn CME/CE credit for reading medical news

MADRID, Spain, Nov. 26 -- The number of biologic agents for rheumatoid arthritis has increased in recent years, but the best results come from more effective use of available treatments, researchers found. Action Points   Explain to patients who ask that although newer drugs for rheumatoid arthritis have improved treatment since 2000, better management of treatment, including use of older drugs such as methotrexate, proved more important than specific drugs. Disease activity scores decreased, independent of the availability of new therapies, both in patients with severe and milder disease, Isidoro González-Alvaro, M.D., of the Hospital de la Princesa in Madrid, and colleagues reported in Arthritis Research and Therapy. TNF antagonists and Leflunomide (Arava) have shown efficacy in randomized controlled trials, not only controlling disease activity but also slowing or arresting radiological damage, the researchers wrote. However, they said, when used outside of clinical trials, the effectiveness of new drugs may differ, in part because clinical-trial patients are generally younger, have less comorbidity, and show greater disease activity than real-life patients./.../

Global Pharma Market Predicted to More Than Double In Value to $1.3 Trillion by 2020: Industry Must Transform to Capitalise On Opportunities

Global Pharma Market Predicted to More Than Double In Value to $1.3 Trillion by 2020: Industry Must Transform to Capitalise On Opportunities Print-friendly version
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London, 13 June 2007 - The global pharmaceutical market will more than double in value to $1.3 trillion by 2020, according to a new report on the future of the pharmaceutical industry released today by PricewaterhouseCoopers. The increase is driven by soaring worldwide demand for medicines and preventative treatments as the population grows, ages, becomes more obese and more prosperous.

By 2020 the E7 countries - Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia and Turkey - could account for as much as one fifth of global pharmaceutical sales. Further, the chronic conditions in the developing world will increasingly resemble those of the developed world. But PricewaterhouseCoopers report indicates that the current pharmaceutical industry business model is both economically unsustainable and operationally incapable of acting quickly enough to produce the types of innovative treatments demanded by global markets. In order to make the most of these future growth opportunities, the industry must fundamentally change the way it operates.

PricewaterhouseCoopers report, entitled Pharma 2020: The Vision - Which Path Will You Take?, contends that despite unprecedented global demand for its product, the pharmaceutical industry is at a pivotal point in harnessing its ability to capitalise on these opportunities. Pharmaceutical companies are facing a dearth of new compounds in the pipeline, poor financial performance¹, rising sales and marketing expenditures, increased legal and regulatory constraints and challenges, and tarnished reputations. At the same time health care payers and providers everywhere have recognised that current health care expenditure levels are also unsustainable unless they deliver more demonstrable care and cost benefit over the long term.