There is a way for modern medicine to cure diseases even when treatments are not profitable

Advances in medicine have contributed to a dramatic increase in life expectancy over the last century. Diseases such as HIV and cervical cancer, which were mostly sentenced to death 30 years ago, can now be managed through access to drugs and surgical procedures.

Yet, previously unknown or undiagnosed diseases and conditions continue to emerge. And there is little or no effective treatment for many diseases and conditions.

Especially when people who are susceptible to these diseases tend to have low income, the costly battle to find remedies and develop vaccines for these diseases is unlikely to be profitable.

This is why I believe that nonprofit organizations have a vital role to play in funding these efforts.

No 'moonshot & # 39;

The research I spent most of my career as a medical chemist focused on drug discovery. Many of these efforts were focused on treating cancer and cardiovascular disease.

More innovation is needed for the development of new drugs that can, to name two examples, keep malaria and dengue at bay.

Unfortunately, despite the desperate need for drugs for other diseases that mainly affect the poor, most drug manufacturers are not looking for new methods to treat them. That is to say, there is no "gun shot" aimed at curing and preventing the financing of these diseases by the private sector.

And although federal agencies such as the National Institutes of Health fund the study of infectious diseases and neurological disorders, they also do not have sufficient funding.

The problem is that private companies are largely forced to maximize their profits no matter what they produce. It therefore seems unreasonable to expect pharmaceutical companies to work in areas they suspect of not making money in the long run, if ever.

$ 1.4 billion

Suppose the president of Pfizer announces tomorrow that the company will invest heavily in the eradication of malaria. They would probably be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. However, the company could immediately start looking for a new executive because eradicating malaria would easily cost Pfizer more than it could recover from sales.

According to a report published in 2016 by the Tufts Drug Development Research Center, the development of an FDA-approved prescription drug would cost $ 1.4 billion US. Production, shipping or any type of sale costs even more.

At the same time, people most at risk of malaria live in countries where the average annual income can be less than $ 1,000. The chances of recovering even a small fraction of this investment are extremely slim.

superbugs

Before considering this problem as a problem unlikely to affect your well-being, consider the health risks of antibiotic resistance.

The development of bacterial resistance to common drugs such as amoxicillin, azithromycin and other similar drugs has given rise to the discovery of other drugs such as vancomycin and methicillin. However, new strains of bacteria have emerged and are resisting even these last lines of defense.

Modern medicine has no known treatment against these so-called "superbugs".

In the absence of new drugs to treat such infections, a person who has an infected scratch may die.

With this in mind, there is a clear need for new discoveries of antibiotics. Yet virtually all drug companies have moved away from this sector for an obvious reason.

If a new drug were identified tomorrow, it would obviously be considered the last line of resistance for the treatment of bacterial infections. How can a company justify spending the $ 1.4 billion needed to develop a drug that would only be used as a last resort?

If, for example, 1,000 patients need the drug in a given year, can a company realistically expect each patient over the age of 10 to pay $ 140,000 just to recover the cost? initial discovery? Of course not. But that could make sense for charities if it's their mission.

Promising examples

There are non-profit organizations that engage in drug discovery for these neglected diseases. Medicines for Malaria Venture, a group of scientists based in Switzerland, is committed to reducing the burden of malaria globally.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, OneWorld Health, the Task Force on New TB Drugs, and the Milken Institute's Public Health Center are among the best-known organizations working to achieve these important goals without being subject to shareholder pressure.

These efforts have created nearly a dozen new malaria-approved drugs and created vaccines that could slow the spread of diseases such as Ebola and Zika.

TB Alliance is an international non-profit organization dedicated to discovering, developing and distributing more effective, efficient and affordable TB drugs for those in need.

With the support of the Gates Foundation and government agencies around the world, the alliance has been approved by the FDA for Pretomanid, its new drug capable of treating multidrug-resistant TB, which is estimated to be 600,000 people every year.

What I found particularly remarkable is that the alliance facilitated and funded the efforts that resulted in a new life-saving treatment without creating its own laboratory. Instead, he coordinated the efforts of other researchers already conducting TB surveys in many countries.

Continued support from government agencies, private donors and non-profit organizations of these companies could be critical to the survival of the human race. While their continued funding is clearly needed to provide these essential drugs, we are all fortunate to have organizations like this working for the good of humanity.

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