Drug Innovation 12: H7N9, SARS, Bird Flu and Vaccines

Today, I read three stories of the SARS-like virus that has affected Saudi Arabia, and bird flu virus in  China.

Some 15 people have already died in Saudi Arabia alone, from SARS-like coronavirus. There are some panic especially in the eastern part of the country. See the news here.

A follow up article, also today, New SARS-like virus can probably pass person-to-person. In one family alone in Eastern Saudi Arabia, the father died and the three children got sick too with similar symptoms, two are in the ICU already. 

Then the news in China with 35 deaths already from a strain of H7N9 bird flu virus, out of 130 reported cases. News story here. All these three stories are from interaksyon.com.

Diseases indeed mutate. They are not dead or static, they are living and evolving micro organisms that want to expand themselves as fast as possible and claim more victims.

And that is why medical treatment, medicines and other aspects of healthcare must continue to evolve too. And some government policies that can discourage such continued innovation should be discouraged instead.

Reiner Gloor of PHAP has two articles last month on vaccines and preventive healthcare, especially in protecting children. Posting them below.

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http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Weekender&title=R&D-supports-Decade-of-Vaccines&id=68873

Posted on April 18, 2013 05:51:09 PM

Medicine Cabinet -- Reiner W. Gloor

R&D supports Decade of Vaccines

PREVENTING diseases remains the most important health strategy that eliminates the burden of social and financial risks associated with curative or palliative care. Vaccination has saved about 2.5 million lives each year, making it one of the most important and cost-effective public health innovations.

The 65th World Health Assembly (WHA) acknowledged, “vaccination is, and should be recognized as, a core component of the human right to health and an individual, community and governmental responsibility.” The WHA added that as an integral part of a comprehensive package for disease prevention and control, vaccines and immunization are investment in the future of a country.

In the Philippines, President Benigno Aquino himself recognized immunization as part of his priority universal health care agenda. He said that to win the war on poverty, the country must also turn its attention to public health.

“And, as we focus on the health of our country, economy, government, the overall health of all Filipinos also remains a top priority. We want our people to be empowered individuals capable of standing on their own two feet -- strong, healthy, and skilled men and women who can take advantage of the opportunities that life affords them,” he said during the launch of the an immunization program targeting 700,000 poor children.

Introduced at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January 2010, the global health community made a call for a Decade of Vaccines (DoV) which vision is a world in which all individuals enjoy lives free from vaccine-preventable diseases. The mission of the Decade of Vaccines is to extend, by 2020 and beyond, the full benefit of immunization to all people, regardless of where they are born, who they are, or where they live.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation pledged $10 billion for the research, development and delivery of vaccines for the world’s poorest countries. The Foundation projected that about 7.6 million children under five will be saved from life-threatening diseases by increasing vaccines coverage in poor countries by 90%.

Drug Innovation 10: Cancer, H7N9 and Government

Various types of cancer is among the leading causes of mortality (death) and morbidity (sickness) in the Philippines and around the world. It is a non-infectious or non-communicable disease (NCD) that is caused more by genetics and/or lifestyle. For instance, tobacco-related lung cancer, and alcohol-related liver cancer, are the top two killers among cancer for men in the Philippines, according to the article by Reiner Gloor of PHAP below.

A friend in the free market movement here, Joshua Lipana, died this week at a young age of 21, due to a rare and aggressive cancer (T-Cell Lymphoblastic Lymphoma). I mentioned a few times here that my own elder brother died of prostate cancer, and his wife (my sis in law) died of colon cancer, several years ago.

As medical science improves, discovery of more rare diseases that used to be lumped or identified with other diseases is becoming easier. But treating them is another matter and will not be easy. Reiner however, says "researchers are working on more than 800 innovative medicines that are either undergoing clinical trials or regulatory review. Due to these developments, cancer can now be better managed and even beaten."

Then early this month or late last month, we read a new strain of bird flu, the A(H7N9) that the WHO called as "one of the most lethal so far". Not as lethal perhaps as the A(H1N1) strain that killed more than 300 people middle of the last decade.

These H1 and H7 strains, unlike cancer or hypertension, are infectious or communicable diseases. Infection usually starts from chicken and other birds, to humans. So the immediate action is isolation of the patient from the rest of population to prevent further infection, while treating the patient.

Government has an important role in controlling infectious diseases, like detecting and isolating infected people who travel from one country to another through airport medical screening. But government, I believe, has little role in controlling NCDs as these are usually difficult, complicated and expensive to treat diseases, requiring more personal responsibility (remind people that over-eating, over-drinking, over-smoking is not good for their health). If government will put more resources on controlling NCDs, it will further worsen already high public indebtedness, which will have negative effect on other public spending over the long term, like spending to maintain peace and order and ensure a credible justice system.

And of course, governments should not make the business and scientific environment antagonistic to drug innovation. They should not politicize innovation and reward rent-seeking via IPR-busting policies.

Below are two articles by Reiner of PHAP, about cancer and H7N9.. Reposting from BusinessWorld. Enjoy.
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http://www.bworldonline.com/weekender/content.php?id=46080

Posted on 06:05 PM, February 02, 2012 

Medicine Cabinet -- By Reiner W. Gloor

Beating cancer

Major non-communicable diseases were among the important health issues that gained the attention of world leaders in 2010. In a United Nations summit, political leaders agreed to a plan of action that sought to address alarming trends involving four major non-communicable diseases (NCD) that have developed to become the world’s biggest killers.


The four major NCDs are cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases, and cancers that have altogether prematurely claimed the lives of 38 million people, representing about 63% of the total global deaths in 2008. Studies indicate that the major NCDs are affecting the developing world and lower-income populations hardest.

This is particularly true for cancer, which accounted for about 7.6 million global deaths in 2008. By 2030, cancer deaths are also expected to soar to 11 million worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) also disclosed that about 70% of all cancer deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries.

Cancer can affect any part of the body. A defining feature of cancer is the rapid creation of abnormal cells that grow beyond their usual boundaries, and which can then invade adjoining parts of the body and spread to other organs. This process is referred to as metastasis which is the major cause of death from cancer, the WHO said.

Locally, the Department of Health recently led the observance of the National Cancer Awareness Week in a campaign to boost public consciousness on the disease. Such an awareness drive is important specifically for the Philippine Society of Medical Oncology (PSMO), which considers information as a keystone to preventing and treating cancer.

The need to raise awareness on cancer has become more evident with the GLOBOCAN Project report, which estimated that there had been more than 51,000 cancer deaths in the Philippines in 2010.

The GLOBOCAN Project, which provides global incidence of, mortality and prevalence from major types of cancer, reported that leading new cancer deaths among Filipinos in 2010 include those involving the lung, liver, breast, colon/rectum, leukemia stomach, cervix uteri, brain, prostate and pharynx.

Among Filipino men, lung and liver cancer comprise 43% of all new cancer deaths. These top two killer cancers affected more than 12,000 Filipino men.