WHERE ARE THE WONDER DRUGS OF BIOTECH?

In the case of hypertension it is known that it is a complex disease, that means, that it is the product of the interaction of several genes between them and with the environment, thus according to what genes and the type of interactions you will have different types of hypertension patients that in turn will react differently to each type of drug.

Then, why are they investing so much money in the development of new drugs, instead of doing the study, and knowing what they already have? I do not know. I could speculate that this investment is only money-driven.

To prove this point I must tell you that in the larger study ever conducted on the effects of drugs on hypertension, reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association, it was found that diuretics, drugs that work by increasing the flow of urine, are superior to newer, more expensive drugs in lowering high blood pressure and preventing its serious and often fatal complications. Drugs such as Norvasc, Zestril and Prinivil and Cardura.

The price difference goes from $25.0 a year for a diuretic to between $250.0 and $500.0 depending on the drug.

What makes things worse is that both, Biotech and Pharma companies are cutting down the money in basic research, thus the link between Molecular Genetics and drug development is getting thinner all the time.

The importance of this link is that in the lab the basic scientist finds out what gene(s) are involved in which disease. This, in turn indicates him (her) or the companies a possible target for drug development.

Through basic research scientists also learn the interaction between genes, which is important because in this way it can be decided if it is reasonable to develop the drug or not, since it tells you that by affecting the function of other genes, you could produce secondary effects that would render the drug useless.

In my opinion it is the lack of basic research and the competition for the money what makes possibly the existence of so many drugs that after hitting the market people discover that they have serious side effects such as cancer.

Thus, because of the approach used by those companies, I do not see Pharmacogenomics accomplishing its promises in the near future.

Another problem of the actual wonder drugs is their incredibly huge price compared to the risks that the patients have to take.

Let me give you

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