Only 3 out of 10 new drugs make money
The world’s big pharmaceutical companies have joined forces in Cyprus to form the Cyprus Association of Research & Development Pharmaceutical Companies (KEFEA).
Formed among the top pharmaceutical companies in the world, KEFEA’s mission is to “provide Cypriots with quality healthcare & access to new medicines”.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, KEFEA’s President, Katia Gatzali, pledged that KEFEA would work in close cooperation with all stakeholders, such as the Ministry of Health, Physicians, Patients, Pharmacists and Distributors.
As well as acting as a focal point for information on the industry generally, KEFEA also aims to act as a communication link to the government, lobbying, for example for faster approvals times for clinical trials.
KEFEA’s establishment is also a by-product of the fact that more of the big research and development pharmaceutical companies have established a presence in Cyprus since the country joined the EU.
Eight companies have formed KEFEA: Bayer Hellas A.E, Boehringer Ingelheim, GlaxoSmithKline Cyprus Ltd, Merck Sharp & Dohme (Middle East) Ltd, Novartis Pharma Services (Switzerland), Sanofi Aventis (Cyprus) Ltd, Wyeth Hellas Cyprus Branch and Eli Lilly (SWISSE) S.A..
Speaking at a press event on Thursday KEFEA Gritzali said that KEFEA’s main objectives are to:
*Ensure uninterrupted access to medicines at reasonable prices in the Cyprus market.
*Ensure quick access to innovative medicines in Cyprus.
*Provide scientific educational information on disease areas and treatments to healthcare providers.
*Comply with a common code of ethical practice.
*Ensure that European objectives regarding high healthcare standards will be implemented in the Cyprus market.
KEFEA is keen to ensure that Cyprus’ operating enviroment is conducive to conducting clinicals trials.
“We believe that Cyprus deserves to be part of the worldwide clinical research being done…For very serious diseases it is important to get the products to the people who need them,” Gritzali told the Financial Mirror.
Only 1 in 10 new drugs make it
The event also provided an opportunity for Gritzali to remind a sometimes sceptical public about the contribution which the “research and development” pharmaceutical companies (as opposed to generics, which normally reproduce expired patents) make to human health.
“Disease-related mortality rates in Europe have declined by almost 40% over the last 30 years, thanks in part to new medicines,” she told reporters.
However, Gritzali noted that there are still no effective treatments available for around three quarters of the 30,000 diseases known today.
While the research and development pharmaceutical companies pour billions of dollars every year into research, employ 100,000 scientists to research new or better medicines and currently are developing more than 700 new medicines, Gritzali noted that the road to bringing a medicine to the public is a hard one.
For example, only 10% of the compounds reaching clinical trials actually make it to market.
In addition, the estimated cost of bringing each new medicine from discovery to market is not far off a billion dollars, at USD 897 million.
Moreover, the number of tests and trials which it must undergo to ensure it is safe means that the investment made is for the very long term.
“It takes 10-12 years from the discovery of a potential new medicine until it is available for patients”, assuming that the drug makes it, said Gritzali.
Finally, only 3 out of 10 new treatments recover development costs.
While it was not said so explicitly, this was clearly an attempt to explain why companies cannot sell at rock bottom prices new drugs that actually do make it across all the hurdles.
When deciding on whether to invest in a pharmaceutical company, large institutional investors look at the full research to market cycle to see whether companies can reap back what they are investing in research.
This in turn has led companies to seek acquisitions of companies in the biotech sector.
Fiona Mullen
