Fighting women’s diseases: 400 drugs under development, 62 breast cancer drugs in testing
Published: October 26, 2005
Sixty-two new drugs to treat breast cancer are now undergoing tests, according to a survey released by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).
In all, more than 400 new drugs are being developed to treat diseases affecting American women.
October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month in the United States and Oct 21, National Mammography Day.
“It is heartening to know that there are so many medicines being developed to treat women,” said Billy Tauzin, president and CEO of PhRMA.
The PhRMA survey shows that along with new medicines for breast cancer:
-SEVENTY-TWO are in development for arthritis and musculoskeletal disorders.
-FIFTY-EIGHT for obstetric/gynaecological conditions which affect more than 4.5 million American women between the ages 15 and 50.
-SIXTY-TWO for diabetes which affects 9% of American women over the age of 20.
-FORTY-SEVEN for autoimmune diseases which afflict 23.5 million Americans, most of them women.
Breast cancer will kill an estimated 40,410 American women this year, and an estimated 211,240 women will be diagnosed with the disease.
But America’s research-based pharmaceutical companies are developing new medicines to fight breast cancer.
One medicine, now in clinical trials for metastatic breast cancer, is designed to bind to and inhibit a protein that forms new blood vessels and maintains current blood vessels that feed tumours.
According to the American Cancer Society, better treatments and earlier detection are helping to decrease the breast cancer death rate, which has declined steadily at 2.3% per year since 1990.
“The fact that there are 62 new medicines in development for breast cancer gives so much hope,” said Tauzin.
“Anyone with a loved one who is fighting breast cancer knows the importance of these medicines and this research.”
PhRMA represents the United States’ leading pharmaceutical research and biotechnology companies.
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