english.prescrire.org > Spotlight > Archives : 2005 > Therapeutic advances: the industry is at a loss

Spotlight: Archives

Every month, the subjects in Prescrire’s Spotlight.

2005 : 1 | 30 | 60

Therapeutic advances: the industry is at a loss

Real therapeutic advances are increasingly hard to come by. Now is perhaps the time to consider new avenues.

The annual Prescrire Awards highlight new drugs that represent a true therapeutic advance. But the last few years have seen no truly ground-breaking developments. It is not entirely surprising that after 40 to 50 years of innovation, research is beginning to stagnate. Now is perhaps the time to think about other ways forward.

These include: improving the use of the many diagnostic and therapeutic resources available; use of non-medical resources to help improve patient care; finding ways to avoid useless treatments and investigations; and avoiding iatrogenic effects, especially through improved care organisation, quality health products and better communication, both between caregivers and between medical personnel and patients. Much remains to be done in the field of primary disease prevention: nutrition, environment, behaviour etc. New impetus must be given to fundamental research, which has been neglected in favour of short-term contracts. Research should be energetically directed towards areas where it is badly needed, i.e. diseases and patient groups that have been ignored until now, in both the rich and poor countries. Let us think long and hard in order to change direction for the better.

©Prescrire February 2005

Source: "Réfléchir" Rev Prescrire 2005 ; 25 (258) : 81.

- More articles in Prescrire's "Spotlight"...