The Public Needs to Know(revised)

Assignment 2.1

Joshua Hall

Eng115

Professor Kimberly Sinnott

06/11/13

Developing new drugs for cancer patients has many issues that slows production of effective drugs. Cancer treatments and research for new and better medicine is one of the largest and most expensive developments. Trail and error in producing effective medication is extremely grueling. This has been going on for years,It has always been a problem with the managing of good care for a low price. When Companies conduct expensive research the companies want to make profit. Most of the drugs that have been introduced are expensive and provide few of the benefits that patients expect. According to the American Cancer Society, usually treatments and medications given to patients have side affects that often cause worst health problems to the patients. The process of accumulating components for prospective medications in the use of cancer treatment is an extremely long process. In most cases, the development takes years to even get a single drug to be manufactured for patient consumption. It must go through several fascists of laboratory testing. “From a “target” to a “drug”, to “trial” then finally, an approved medication in the fight against cancer” (Giulio Draetta M.D., 2012)
Researchers use unique processes that extract compounds from natural organism sources such as oceans, plants, fungal bacteria. They then use the chemical foundations to produce medications for treatment..The first phase consists of laboratory studies, both by human consumption as well as animals. They are assessed to determine proper dosing amounts as well as taking into consideration the side effects that the medications have on the patients. Research consists of determining the specific cancer strain that the medication benefits. Taking into consideration how safe the medication is and the side effects the medication has on patients. Only if the medication passes through phase one and two, does it prove effective enough to continue with development and make it to the third phase

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) suggest that the failures in development may be a result of faulty testing systems. If a testing system is not effective, the results of research and development are going to parish. Groups of cancer patients say they too want better ways to measure success against cancer. The backlash from society and those that actually need these medications is that all these drugs are horribly expensive. A lot of patients simply can not afford the medications and treatments. More times than less, even if one can afford the proper treatment, at often times it still only stalls the disease, as a result it not only returns, but sometimes more aggressive then it was . A system of Exemption should be established for patients without the resources to meet such payment to ensure that they are not deprived of treatment.

We must also look at the pricing policy from the perspective of the Pharmaceutical companies that produce these drugs. Just like any business, Pharmaceutical companies want to recoup huge financial investments in research and development. In the case of Cancer drugs, the mechanisms are highly technical and a huge return on the initial financial investment is needed if drug companies are to have any reason to pursue the next generation of Cancer drugs. The threat of generic drugs only further serves to discourage drug companies from creating new and more effective medicines, as the developing nations have shown them that they are willing to engage in Intellectual Property piracy.

The affordability of drugs could be increased substantially however, by eliminating or reducing import duties, distribution costs and dispensing fees. These can account for up to 80% of the total price paid for drugs. In particular, import duty can be as high as 30%, while value-added and other national and local taxes can amount to 20% of a drug cost. There is help,Cancer Care's financial assistance programs provide limited grants for people with certain types of cancer. There are plenty of financial aids available that help with affording treatments and or co-payments. Also there are insurances available for those that qualify.

In our firm we provide tips in the prevention of Cancer and ways of treating it naturally. Some of the ways of treating Cancer on a natural level is Maintaining a healthy diet and Staying fit. Doing so can reduce your risk of cancer all together. Many doctors don’t talk to their patients about exercise. This is unfortunate, because along with increasing your chances of survival, exercise helps reduce the side effects from the cancer itself, as well as side effects from cancer treatment . Exercise can reduce fatigue, anxiety and pain, and it can also increase endurance, improve your emotional well-being and sexual function, and reduce insomnia. We offer this informative information with out a big price tag that comes along with it. Although I have mention the length it takes to develop drugs that actually work, and the high cost; The survival rate and the amount of information on Cancer is increasing drastically. We all can count on more effective treatments with more financial help to manage this disease as the time goes on. It is already moving in a good direction.

[pic]

figure 1

[pic] figure 2

References

http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DevelopmentApprovalProcess/default.htm

The New York times

blog.chron.com

www.air.org

http://www.oumedicine.com/cancer/cancer-research/

Hill, B., Whelan, R., Shellard, S., McClean, S. & Hosking, L. Differential cytotoxic effects of docetaxel in a range of mammalian tumor cell lines and certain drug resistant sublines in vitro. Invest New Drugs 12, 169-182 (1994).