FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 26, 1999
Contact: Jackie Cottrell, (202) 835-3467
DRUG COMPANIES TESTING 104 MEDICINES FOR HEART DISEASE AND STROKE, WHICH KILL AN AMERICAN EVERY 33 SECONDS
Washington, D.C. - Sixty-eight pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies are currently developing 104 medicines for heart disease and stroke, the first and third leading disease killers of Americans, a new survey by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) found.
"Existing medicines helped reduce deaths from heart disease and stroke by half in the past three decades, enabling millions of Americans to live longer, better lives," said PhRMA President Alan F. Holmer. "Still, the two diseases claim nearly a million lives and cost more than $285 billion each year. The more than a hundred medicines in development for these diseases offer hope that more and more Americans will be able to beat the odds."
Several of the potential medicines make use of cutting-edge technologies and offer significant advances. For example:
-- Gene therapies are being tested to prompt the heart to grow new blood vessels, bypassing clogged arteries.
-- A clot-buster drug now in testing shows promise of doubling the window of time for preventing brain damage.
-- A genetically-engineered form of a hormone the body produces to bolster a failing heart is being developed as a short-term treatment for congestive heart failure.
-- A new medicine for atrial fibrillation has been shown to prolong the periods in which patients with this condition are free of abnormal heart rhythm.
The 104 medicines, now either in clinical trials or awaiting approval by the Food and Drug Administration, include: 11 for angina, or heart pain, which afflicts more than 6 million Americans and results in 97,000 hospitalizations annually; 7 for arrhythmia, or abnormal heart rhythm, which causes 676,000 hospitalizations and more than 43,000 deaths a year; 19 for congestive heart failure, the leading cause of hospitalization among Americans 65 and older; 12 for heart attack, which takes nearly half a million lives a year; 9 for high cholesterol, which affects 98 million Americans and is a leading risk factor for heart disease; 10 for high blood pressure, a risk factor for both heart disease and stroke; and 21 medicines for stroke, which kills an American every three minutes.
"Today's patients have formidable weapons against both heart disease and stroke -- medicines that not only save lives and raise the quality of life for patients but also help control the costs of these diseases -- by preventing heart attacks, saving stroke patients from debilitating brain damage, keeping arrhythmia patients out of the emergency room," Holmer said. "The medicines in development will add to this arsenal, saving even more lives and more health care dollars."
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) represents the country's leading research-based pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, which are devoted to inventing medicines that allow patients to lead longer, happier, healthier and more productive lives. Investing $24 billion annually in discovering and developing new medicines, PhRMA companies are leading the way in the search for cures.
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PhRMA Internet Address: http://www.phrma.org
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