Infectious Diseases example essay topic

The pharmaceutical industry is developing 256 drugs and vaccines to target infectious diseases ranging from hepatitis to influenza, according to a survey to be released Wednesday by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. Infectious diseases were responsible for nearly one-third of all worldwide deaths in 1996, the survey said. AIDS is a major contributor to the death toll, but those drugs were considered a separate category and not included in the survey. The industry has 98 drugs in development to fight the disease.

Vaccines are the focus of the most attention, the study found, with 96 under development for a broad range of diseases. The survey said there are 32 new antibiotics are under development. Of the total agents being developed, 69 are being tested in the lab while the remaining 187 are in either clinical trials or awaiting approval by the FDA Hepatitis, tuberculosis and malaria all are prevalent in the developing world, however hepatitis is a greater focus of pharmaceutical research because it is also a significant problem in the United States. About 5 million people in the United States suffer from a form of hepatitis.

Agents for sexually transmitted diseases, antibiotics and antivirals also are major focuses of company research, the study showed. Diseases such as anthrax and smallpox have become a major concerns since Sept. 11 and the subsequent anthrax attacks. The survey, however, was largely conducted before the attacks and so is not a useful barometer of the industry's attention to such diseases. In the immediate aftermath of the terrorist and anthrax attacks, pharmaceutical companies offered to donate drugs and allow their scientists to use their labs for government work. Some asked the Food and Drug Administration to approve their antibiotics as a treatment for anthrax.

Last week, Aventis donated a recently discovered reserve of smallpox vaccine to the government. But beyond that there have been no high-profile announcements of collaborations between industry and government. Dr. Michael Friedman, a Pharmacia Corp. executive acting as a liaison between the companies and the government in strengthening the country's bio terrorism defense, says the industry will announce a major educational campaign about bio terrorism next week. He declined to provide specifics. ' Until recently there was not much attention paid to bio terrorism,' said Dr. Friedman.

'Companies are in the process of planning right now. Targets are being identified. ' Eli Lilly & Co. is testing one of its cancer drugs as a smallpox treatment. The move came after sending samples of several of its medicines to the government for testing as potential candidates to target bio terrorism threats. Lilly said it hasn't changed the overall focus of its research, but now when it tests potential antibiotics or antivirals it broadens the scope. ' Now we have more of a dual strategy.

When we look at compounds we think maybe it will be an effective agent against a disease on the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention list of bio terrorism diseases,' said Gail Cassel, vice president of infectious disease research at Indianapolis-based Lilly. But Cassel and Friedman agree that companies must continue to develop new antibiotics because resistance is a major problem..