The figure was based on how long it took two recent cancer drugs to be approved across the world after they were given the green light by the United States. Pembrolizumab, an effective treatment for most lung cancers, was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2016.

More than 600,000 years of patients´ lives could have been saved if Brazil, Canada, China, India, Japan and the European Union had approved the drug at the same time, according to an analysis published in the Harvard Business Review, which is not peer-reviewed.

The authors, including US oncologist Bobby Daly, also looked at enzalutamide, which is used to treat prostate cancer. Enzalutamide was approved by the FDA in 2012, but was not authorised in China for another seven years, partly due to a requirement for separate trials to be carried out there. 

The analysis by members of the Bloomberg New Economy International Cancer Coalition found that 284,000 years of patient lives could have been saved if other countries had approved the drug alongside the FDA.

Source The News

BDST: 1525 HRS, OCT 19, 2022
MSK