The business of developing new drugs for cancer patients - Essay Example

?The Public Needs to Know The business of developing new drugs for cancer patients Cancer has been assumed as the most dangerous and widely spread disease of the century. A large number of people have been detected as victims of this disease, and majority of patients have been unknown of its presence in their bodies. Cancer is also called as a ‘silent killer’ because it captures and destroys body without creating any serious kind of problems for the patient. Many cancer patients come to know about their disease at the last stage. Cancer is basically the abnormality of cells which spreads throughout the body rendering it unable to survive. It is the disease of malignant cells and tissues which get destroyed because of the germs of virus in the body, thus, called as Malignant Neoplasm. There are no clear symptoms of the disease in the start of attack of cancer whereas later on certain symptoms and presence of some specific signs cause the identification of disease. However, cancer can be cured with a little care and treatment if it is detected at some early stages when the malignancy of tissues has not spread throughout the body. When a certain part of body has been affected by the cancerous germs and this disease id identified, it can easily be cured with the help of specific drugs that have been prepared for this purpose during last few decades. About a century ago, cancer was not a known disease throughout the world and many people died of it without knowing about its existence. With the use of advanced research and technology, the identification and treatment of this disease have become possible to such an extent that almost 60 percent of patients at early stage have been cured in last few years and only a small number of patients have died of this disease. However, in last few years, this common killer disease has caught the attention of many specialist and researchers and they have been trying hard to discover new and curable solutions of this disease. It is observed that they have also been successful in their intentions as the business for developing new drugs for cancer treatment has been flourished to such an extent that many drugs have been introduced in the medical world which provide gradual but successful relieve to this disease. Majority of the third world countries lack the awareness to this disease, but in the developed nations like America, there is a considerable awareness and treatment available for cancer. The demand for such drugs that cure cancer is increasing day by day in all developed and under developed countries nowadays. Although there is a fast development and research in the field of developing drugs of different diseases, there are many different types of diseases among which certain are very dangerous, still considered incurable and need special attention for making of drugs for their cure. However, according to a recent research, it has been discovered that 200 various different kinds of cancer have been identified in cancer patients by the specialists; according to an analysis, 1 in 3 Americans has been found affected by the identified cancerous forms while everyday 1 American in 4 dies because of cancer besides the best treatment facilities and drugs availability (Ernst, 2008). America is paying special attention to cure this disease and discover easy and simple methods to cure cancer. Their best qualified scientists are involved in researching the cancer treatment drugs and they are spending $125 billion every year on the discovery, examination and drugs preparation for cure of cancer. It has also been hypothesized that cancer treatment budget can rise high up to $207 billion in America till 2020 (Ernst, 2008). It is very difficult to find some simple and pain free treatment drugs for cancer that can provide reliable, permanent and authentic relief to cancer patient. It is very expensive research project but Americans are trying hard for inventing some affordable cancerous treatment. Expensive treatment for cancer goes beyond approach for the poor just like prostate glands cancer treatment requires $ 44,000 per year, Hodgkin’s Lymphoma costs $216,000 for one year and Skin Cancer treatment requires $120,000 for one session of treatment that is four months long. However, chemotherapy is quite cheap treatment and middle class prefers it for treating cancer (BATES, 2012, p. 2). According to a survey, in United States, it will take 7 to 12 years to make complete cancer drugs treatment for each type of cancer and it will cost US $800 million to make a single drug (Gagnon, 2009, p. 22). The efficiency of drugs is higher at the early stage of cancer and there are better chances for the survival of cancer patient at early stages but when it is caught after a long time or at last stages, it becomes hard to secure the patient or provide very much relief to him. Experiments to secure cancer patients at last stages are under process because FDA has not yet approved experiments on living cancer patients. It will take some time to develop authentic and permanent relief for cancer patients at last stages. There is a strong need for the making the drugs for cancer treatment at all stages. Government should pay special attention to this business of preparing anti cancerous drugs. Besides the preparation of drugs, there must be high interest on the reduction of side effects of this medicine which are like hair loss, vomiting, sores on different body parts etc. For this purpose, private companies and government should work in collaboration so that they can work for welfare of people in much better way. Cancer specialist and patients doctor should co operate with the drug makers and researchers so that they can analyze the disease and cause of disease deeply and reliably. This would affect the drug production in a positive way. A single drug should be tried in different ways to know the way the drug would act better. The research in cancer treatment has been increased by few years and it needs talented researchers and makers to prepare side effect free and easy to act drug. Time period for drug action and expenses are the main interest of the authorities of this business and they are trying that Third world nations should be given awareness for cancer treatment by the developed nations. Bibliography Bates, C. (2012, August 6). Chemotherapy 'can make cancers more resistant to treatment and even encourage them to grow'. The Economist , 2. Ernst, E. (2008). Complementary and alternative medicine: what the NHS should be funding?. British Journal of General Practice 1, 208-209. Gagnon, J. P. (2009). The Cost of New Drug Discovery and Development. Discovery Medicine 4, 172-179. Read More