Reduce Overall Healthcare Costs
WASHINGTON, Aug. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Tremendous progress is being made to save and extend lives, prevent or slow disease progression, and reduce or control overall healthcare costs, according to a new survey of peer-reviewed literature released today by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).
The publication, "The Value of Medicines: Facts and Figures 2006," compiles facts, trends and data that shows how prescription medicines are helping to improve the quality of healthcare for patients and to meeting America's future healthcare needs.
"We are in the midst of a real healthcare revolution," said Billy Tauzin, PhRMA President and CEO. "Prescription medicines play a vital part in helping Americans stay healthy, fight disease, and live longer, more productive lives. Better yet, medicines now being developed will do even more to help patients and doctors treat conditions like diabetes, cancer, AIDS and Alzheimer's disease, to name just a few."
The Value of Medicines highlights how prescription medicines help improve individual health and control overall healthcare costs by preventing disease, reducing the need for surgeries and long hospitalizations and speeding recovery. Some significant facts found in The Value of Medicines include:
-- New medicines generated 40 percent of the two-year gain in life
expectancy achieved in 52 countries between 1986 and 2000.
-- AIDS death rates in the U.S. dropped about 70 percent since the mid-
1990s with the development of a new wave of medicines to treat
HIV/AIDS.
-- Available cancer medicines have tripled since 1971 and these new
drugs account for 50 to 60 percent of the increases in six-year cancer
survival rates since 1975.
-- Cancer death rates decreased in 2003 -- for the first time in 70
years.
"By recognizing that prescription medicines are helping to make patients healthier, we can design healthcare policies that truly put patients first. The Value of Medicines helps make the connection clear," said Tauzin.
To view The Value of Medicines report, please go to: http://www.phrma.org/files/Value%20of%20Medicine%202006.pdf
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) represents the country's leading pharmaceutical research and biotechnology companies, which are devoted to inventing medicines that allow patients to live longer, healthier, and more productive lives. PhRMA companies are leading the way in the search for new cures. PhRMA members alone invested an estimated $39.4 billion in 2005 in discovering and developing new medicines. Industry- wide research and investment reached a record $51.3 billion in 2005.
PhRMA Internet Address: http://www.phrma.org
For information on how innovative medicines save lives, visit: http://www.innovation.org
For information on the Partnership for Prescription Assistance, visit: http://www.pparx.org
For information on the danger of imported drugs, visit: http://www.buysafedrugs.info SOURCE Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America
