Industry failing to produce innovative drugs
Prescrire International, a French drug bulletin that provides independent reviews, has once again failed to find a drug worthy of its annual Golden Pill award.
The award is granted to drugs released onto the French market that “provide
a major therapeutic advance in a field in which no effective treatment
was previously available”. The last award given was to indinavir
(Crixivan) in 1998.
The bulletin has an honours list for drugs that have provided a major
advantage for some patients but have limitations. The list for 2004 includes
enfuvirtide (Fuzeon), a combination therapy for HIV patients who have
experienced multiple treatment failures with antiretrovirals, morphine
syrup (Morphine Aguettant) for severe pain resistant to non-opioid analgesics,
and stiripentol (Diacomit) for myoclonic epilepsy in infants.
Prescrire also lists “noteworthy” drugs that have made a
more modest contribution to patient management. They include atavaquone
and proguanil (Malarone paediatric) for malaria prophylaxis, bosentan
(Tracleer) for pulmonary arterial hypertension, topiramate (Epitomax)
for refractory epilepsy and laronidase (Aldurazyme) for replacement therapy
of type I mucopolysaccharidosis.
A special award was granted to misoprostol (Gymiso) used in combination
with mifepristone for drug-induced abortion. Misoprostol was previously
available but
had no marketing authorisation for this
indication. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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