July 12, 2002 WASHINGTON (HHS) -- HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson yesterday released a new report highlighting the importance of medical innovation and new technology, especially new drugs, in helping seniors live longer and healthier lives. The report highlights advances in disease treatment and prevention as key factors improving health for older Americans.
"To ensure our continued progress in the fight to treat and prevent chronic and other diseases, our society must encourage continued research and innovation. Public and private investments in research are investments in our future," Secretary Thompson said, noting that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget for fiscal year 2002 is $23.5 billion.
The report, "Securing the Benefits of Medical Innovation for Seniors," examines the role that the U.S. plays in developing new medical technology, including drugs, and also looks at access to new innovative medicines in the U.S. and abroad.
The report cites several examples of restrictions on access to new drugs in various countries compared to the U.S. For example, while patients in the U.S. have access to new osteoporosis medicines that inhibit bone reabsorption, other countries restrict access to these drugs to relatively narrow categories of patients. In New Zealand, only specialists can initiate therapy with these medicines, and then only after the patient has already suffered one previous significant bone fracture and has a substantially low bone mass density. Similarly, other countries limit the use of statins, a new category of drugs that can help people with high cholesterol -- a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke.
"In providing seniors access to prescription drug coverage in Medicare, we must let patients, not the government, choose the drug coverage that is best for them," Secretary Thompson said. "We must not erect barriers that block the development and the availability of the most impressive array of medical breakthroughs in history -- the new drugs that improve and save the lives of America's seniors."
