A decade of drug approvals
August 27, 2012
SEVEN hundred and ninety five
medicines have been approved for
use in Australia over the last
decade, with treatments for cancer,
cardiovascular disease and vaccines
commanding the majority of new
approvals.
The figures are outlined in a new
report Medicines Milestones: a
decade of persistence, prevention
and promise, commissioned by
Medicines Australia, and found
that over the last ten years cancer
treatments accounted for 115 of
the 795 medicines approved for
use in Australia.
“As an industry, we’re still working
on that elusive cancer cure, but we
are edging closer with every new
treatment,” said Dr Brendan Shaw,
Medicines Australia Chief Executive.
“Looking at the last ten years, we
have medicines which are
extending life expectancy,
improving quality of life, and even
preventing some diseases
altogether,” he added.
Hot on the heels of cancer
treatments, cardiovascular disease
drugs also featured prominently,
with 82 new medicines for CVD
conditions such as treatments for
blood pressure, cholesterol and
prevention of blood clots being
approved by the Therapeutic
Goods Administration in the last
ten years.
Vaccines also numbered highly,
with the report showing 57 new
vaccines scored TGA approval in
the past 10 years, including
childhood vaccines on the National
Immunisation Program such as
measles, mumps, rubella, polio,
diphtheria and whooping cough, as
well as other vaccines for
meningococcal, cervical cancer,
influenza, tetanus, smallpox and
cholera.
Other conditions which saw a
number of new TGA approvals
over the last decade included
arthritis (33), gastrointestinal
disorders (39) and diabetes (27).
Meanwhile, according to the
report, of the 795 drugs approved,
one in four was a medical
breakthrough using a newly
discovered molecule, unique to
any other currently used to
combat disease.
Of these new discoveries, one in
six was for the treatment of cancer.
“On average it takes the testing
of 10,000 new molecules, 15 years
and $1.4 billion to get one medical
breakthrough from microscope to
medicine,” said Shaw.
“These 224 medical
breakthroughs represent a $313
billion investment in research and
development and have changed
the way we treat 52 different
diseases,” Shaw added.
Looking at approvals in relation
to depression (a National Health
Priority area), the report found
that there were just six approvals
for the condition.
Medicines Australia however said
that this could be attributed to
depression being the only mental
health National Health Priority.
“There were some 59 treatments
approved for mental health
conditions overall, including social
anxiety disorders, addictive disorders
and Alzheimer’s,” Shaw said.
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