An article in the Suislaw News recently highlighted the fact that medical innovation and research are enabling many people to live longer, healthier and more productive lives.
"A strong, innovative and creative pharmaceutical research and biotechnology sector based in the United States is a real boon to American patients," said Billy Tauzin, president and CEO of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). "American patients often get access to new and better medicines well ahead of patients around the world," Tauzin added.
America's pharmaceutical research and biotechnology companies are leading the charge. The Congressional Budget Office specifically identified America's biopharmaceutical sector as "one of the most research-intensive industries" in America.
According to a study recently published in Health Affairs, cancer patients now live three years longer on average than in 1980; 83 percent of that gain is the result of new treatments. In addition, there was a nearly 50 percent decline in heart failure- and attack-related deaths between 1999 and 2005. The rate of AIDS deaths has fallen by more than 70 percent since highly active anti-retroviral therapies were developed, and blood pressure medicines prevented 86,000 premature deaths from cardiovascular disease and avoided 833,000 hospitalizations for heart attack and stroke in just one year, according to a 2007 study.
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