Innovative Medicines: Saving Lives (NAPSA)}—Thereis good news about health in America today: Significant progress is being made against a host of diseases and some important battles have been won. For example, diseases once thought untreatable—HIV/AIDS, heart disease and someforms of cancer—can today increasingly be managedas chronic conditions, letting peoplelive longer, healthier and moreproductivelives. Consider thesestatistics: In a little over half a century, life expectancy in the U.S. has increased by nearly a decade and continuesto rise, according to the US. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Striking progress has been made against a number ofpotentially fatal conditions. HIV/AIDSdeaths fell by over 70 percent in 15 years. Heart disease death rates in America dropped more than 34 percent in a decade. Since 1980,life expectancy rates for cancer patients have increased by about three years—and 83 percent of those gainsare due to new treatments, including medicines. With more than 2,900 promising compounds in development, millions of people have great reasonto hopefor future advances. This progress in treating and managing disease reflects an unprecedented investment in medical innovation. Last year alone, America’s pharmaceutical research and biotechnology companies invested a record $65.3 billion in R&D. Every prescription drug used to help prevent and treat disease is the result of a time-consuming, expensive and risky process of discovery and innovation. It costs, on average, The amazing progress made in treating and managing diseases lately comes from the dedication of thousands of researchers racing against the clock in laboratories around the country. medicine all the way from a bio pharmaceutical research laboratory to a pharmacy shelf. What's more,outof the tens of thousands of potential medicines studied in the research lab at the start of the discovery process, only a handfulwill ever be approved for patient use. Medical innovation in America has been successful because companies have been willing to make the necessary investments and take the necessary risks. Theseefforts also have a profound impact on the U.S. economy. A recent report shows that the biopharmaceutical sector employs nearly 700,000 workers in the U.S. and every one of them supports 3.7 jobs in othersectors. Continued medical progress and preservation of high-quality American jobs, however, can be realized onlyif policymakers support thecritical work that innovators do every day to help improve the health of patients, according to manyeconomists. For more information, visit $1.2 billion and can take anywhere from 10 to 15 years to www.PhRMA.org and www. bring a new,potentiallylifesaving Innovation.org.
