Frost & Sullivan: The Need for Cardiovascular Drug-Discoveries
The rise in disease incidence rate boosts demand for innovative therapeutics
Changing lifestyles, hectic day-to-day activities and unhealthy eating habits have been on the rise over the last decade, directly impacting the health of every individual. These trends prevail in varied proportions across the entire global population. Additionally, the strong prevalence of unhealthy conditions like obesity gives rise to several health-related complications. All these factors directly contribute toward the rise in drug discoveries.
They key to developing a drug is to essentially understand the nature of the disease for which it is being developed, disease symptoms and its reaction to chemical compounds present. The process is time-consuming and expensive; however, it is the first step toward drug discovery.
“Over the past decade, pharmaceutical companies have made tremendous progress in presenting drugs for the treatment of coronary heart disease, thromboembolism, myocardial infarction, ischemic stroke and hypertension,” explains Deepika Pramod Chopda, Research Associate at Frost & Sullivan. “According to the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufactures of America (PhRMA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA), around 300 different drugs across the aforementioned categories have been developed.”
Innovative drug therapies, combination drugs and improvised drug delivery mechanisms form the basis of most of the new research in this disease category. In recent times, researchers have been concentrating on understanding a diseased cardiovascular condition from a molecular level. Genomics, proteomics and the use of computational power represent new ways of understanding unhealthy conditions.
New drugs are aimed at treating existing disease symptoms besides preventing new cardiovascular disorders. Improvised technologies and innovative scientific approaches have been extensively employed in developing new products. Screening tools have extensively been developed to enable research to perform work in a short span of time.
The rise in the number of therapy options reflects the developments made in the entire cardiovascular segment. An increase in the number of orphan drug approvals has also been observed in the recent past. These achievements are made by the tremendous backing of the advances in science and technologies. Significant developments in the field of molecular genetics and advancements in the stem cell space have created opportunities to explore the rare and complicated conditions of this therapeutic segment.
Growing investments in research and development by a large number of organisations have further helped in the introduction of new treatment products. Innovative concepts acquired from the field of life sciences, like the use of molecular antibodies, have led to the use of live cells for therapies. The concept of combining biology with pharmaceuticals, as practised by biopharmaceutical companies, has been on the rise as a measure to generate new and improvised treatment alternatives. Technologies are also being developed to use automation and robotics for new drug identification.
For the population at large, a strong understanding of the prescribed treatment methods, and adherence to the same, will serve as potential lifesavers. Enhanced awareness also helps patients reduce the odds of experiencing life-threatening situations by taking the necessary precautions. “In addition to the aforementioned efforts, the importance of following and completing the course of treatment is equally essential,” concludes Deepika Pramod Chopda. “The rise in awareness will help in improving the quality of care and precautions to be taken for cardiovascular diseases.”
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