Perspective               

Nothing New about "New" Medicines

Two-thirds of the prescription drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from 1989 to 2000 were modified or identical versions of existing drugs, rather than new medicines, reports a study by the National Institute for Health Care Management.

In fact, only 15 percent of the drugs approved in that period were "highly innovative new medicines," those with new chemical ingredients that offered significant improvements over existing drugs, according to the report. The study also found that most of the increased consumer spending on new drugs was on those that the FDA had determined did not provide significant benefits over existing drugs.

The study said that drug companies were relying more and more on the modified medicines as patents on their top-selling drugs expired, and they could not come up with enough truly new medicines to increase profits as fast as investors expected. Modified medicines are usually more expensive than their older counterparts and provide high profits for drug companies since developing them is much less expensive and time-consuming than trying to find new medicines.

_________________________________