Keeping the Faith - Building Better Medicines

Article submitted by Jennie Ann Bonura and A.J. Alberto of Elite Pharmacy, Inc.
For more information, they can be reached at 504-737-2212.

A new era in medication therapy is underway. There is now a revolution in pharmaceutics and biotechnology. Newly discovered products and techniques are changing and improving the way scientists devise, develop, and deliver new treatments for a wide range of diseases including Alzheimer's Disease, Heart Disease and Cancer, to name a few. Keep the faith - scientists, physicians, and pharmacists are coming to rely on these new methods every day as the golden age of drug discovery and disease management is upon us.

In 2003, researchers for biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies were given the ultimate thrill when the map of the human genome was completed after 13 years of collaboration between both private and governmental agencies. Of the 20,000 to 25,000 genes in the human body that have been identified, the known functions or purposes of only 50% of them have been discovered. Many outside of the scientific and medical communities do not understand the importance of this project, but the potential benefit to the consumer is monumental.

Keep the faith that in the not too distant future, individual patients may be able to go to a pharmacy and pick up their prescription for a medication customized especially for them based on their individual genetic profile. Additionally, drug companies are working at an unfathomable rate to discover, develop and distribute new medications that are needed to treat the various disease states that affect us. In 2004, the FDA approved a total of 38 new medications. The cost of this progress is staggering. In 2004, $49.3 billion dollars were spent by drug and biotechnology companies on research and development with an additional $25.3 billion spent on educational programs and marketing aimed directly at the consumer. This type of price tag puts a new appreciation for those 15 second Cialis(r) or Celebrex(r) commercials aired during the Superbowl!

The health care community asks you to keep the faith - a new era has begun, and the best is yet to come.