Small Improvements in Pharmaceuticals Have Large Positive Impact
on Patient Care
and Health Care Spending, Study Finds
Choice in Prescribing Especially Important to Elderly
Patients and Others with Chronic Illness
PHILADELPHIA, PA (July 10, 2001) — The small incremental
improvements to existing drugs that make up the majority of the
new drug approvals by the FDA each year provide important health
benefits to patients, especially elderly patients, according to
a study released today by the Center for Pharmaceutical Health Services
Research at Temple University.
Newer drugs in a therapeutic class often have fewer side effects,
improved drug safety and effectiveness, and are used more easily,
which facilitates compliance with prescribed treatments. A wide
variety of product alternatives permit treatments to be better tailored
to individual patient needs.
"By giving physicians a broad range of medicines we provide
them with a 'tool chest' to treat each patient with precision and
provide options when particular agents have less than optimal effectiveness
or are poorly tolerated," said Dr. Albert Wertheimer, director
of the Center for Pharmaceutical Health Services Research at Temple
University and the lead researcher on the study. "Even choices
in dosage form-tablets versus liquids, or once versus twice daily
dosing-can benefit elderly patients who may have special needs or
preferences regarding chewing, swallowing, or remembering to take
their medications."
In addition to improving health outcomes, products entering the
market that represent incremental innovations over their predecessors
are often less expensive than existing agents in a therapeutic class.
The result is less expensive alternatives long before generic products
are available.
New uses for medicines are often discovered as a result of extensive
clinical experience, often many years after introduction. For example,
tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) was originally developed to treat
heart attacks but is now used in stroke victims. Some incremental
innovations have been demonstrated to save overall health care costs
as well. For example, a study by the National Institute for Neurological
Diseases and Stroke found that patients treated with tPA had shorter
hospital stays than other patients and were more often discharged
to home rather than to institutional care. Although hospital costs
for treated patients increased by $1,700 per patient, rehabilitation
and nursing home costs were reduced by $6,200, a net savings of
$4,500.
"The process of incremental innovation in the pharmaceutical
industry mirrors how product development is done in most manufacturing
and high tech industries," said Wertheimer. "In fact,
most of the top 10 prescription drugs sold in the United States
in 1999 were incremental improvements on existing products. Policies
that foster incremental innovations stimulate research, broaden
access to important therapies and help to promote a competitive
market."
According to a recent Johns Hopkins University study, 125 million
Americans suffered from chronic illnesses in 2000, and that figure
is expected to reach 157 million in 2020, at which time 25 percent
of all Americans will be living with multiple chronic conditions,
many common results of aging. Most of these conditions are treated
by one or more drugs that have seen incremental improvement.
"Individual physical and medical differences increase as people
age," said Wertheimer. "As a result, multiple drug options
are necessary for safe effective, and individualized therapy, especially
for the fastest growing portion of our elderly population, those
86-years-old and older." Dr. Wertheimer points out that "in
the current debate over the details of drug programs for the elderly,
it is important to keep focused on one key concept-the need to provide
a range of incremental drug therapies necessary for appropriate
care."
The study was conducted by the Center for Pharmaceutical Health
Services Research of Temple University School of Pharmacy, in cooperation
with the National Pharmaceutical Council (NPC). The Center conducts
externally funded and academic research in treatment outcomes, pharmacoeconomics,
and health policy analysis.
Since 1953, NPC has sponsored and conducted scientific, evidence-based
analyses of the appropriate use of pharmaceuticals and the clinical
and economic value of pharmaceutical innovation. NPC provides educational
resources to a variety of health care stakeholders, including patients,
clinicians, payers and policy makers. More than 20 research-based
pharmaceutical companies are members of the NPC.
The report The
Value of Incremental Pharmaceutical Innovation for Older Americans
is available online.
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Please direct all media inquiries to Pat Adams, phone
(703) 620-6390.
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