“Experts suggest that there are roughly 200 FDA-approved treatments for the nearly 7,000 rare diseases that exist globally. So while there have been many successes, the unmet needs are huge,"I read these words and read them again.
Why were they so striking to me? Do the math and consider this...
With 8 treatments for PH, 4% of the approved treatments for the 7,000 rare diseases are for PH.
While PH is a rare disease, our patients' and families' focus on putting a spotlight on this disease has brought it out of the dark corners and into the attention of our dedicated researchers and clinicians and the pharmaceutical companies considering new treatments to pursue.
We are not yet where we need to be...at this point there is not a cure. However, these numbers are the result of hard work toweards a clear target. They.are one indicator that we are moving forward rapidly thanks to the dedication of our community of hope.
While your calculations seem correct, they do not give the whole picture. Most of the drugs developed for PH patients follow three paths and are copycats of drugs already on the market. As an example, Remodulin is synthetic Flolan. Are they really two drugs or one with a easier to use copycat? It seems to me some of the new drugs come online as a function of marketing rather than science.
ReplyDeleteWhile your calculations seem correct, they do not give the whole picture. Most of the drugs developed for PH patients follow three paths and are copycats of drugs already on the market. As an example, Remodulin is synthetic Flolan. Are they really two drugs or one with a easier to use copycat? It seems to me some of the new drugs come online as a function of marketing rather than science.
ReplyDelete