Benefits of new medicines
June 8, 2012
MEDICINES Australia has today
highlighted a new report released
in the UK which urges recognition
of the patient benefits of new
medicines.
The British Office of Health
Economics found in its Many Faces
of Innovation report that
incremental innovation is just as
important to developments in
medicines as so-called “miracle
breakthroughs”.
MA ceo Brendan Shaw said the
report “shows that governments,
evaluators and academic
commentators often don’t
recognise innovation as an
important part of providing new
treatments for patients.
“We frequently hear from
evaluators and experts that a
medicine is either ‘innovative’ or
‘not innovative,’ assuming that such
a black and white distinction can be
made,” he said.
Rather, much of technological
development of new drugs is
gradual, progressive improvement
on earlier treatments that over
time leads to major improvements
for patient health.
Shaw said that for some reason
society seems to welcome
incremental innovation in products
like cars, aircraft or vacuum
cleaners “but when it comes to
medicine this is often dismissed”.
He added that this distinction is
often lost when governments are
“hell bent on cutting costs”.
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