What we can do about the high cost of drugs?
Every year, millions of people die from lack of medical treatment. According to the UN, 1.6 million died in 2015 as a result of malaria, tuberculosis and HIV-related illnesses.
07 June 2019
By Nestor Jonguitud Borrego, University of Edinburgh
Every year, millions of people die from lack of medical treatment. According to the UN, 1.6 million died in 2015 as a result of malaria, tuberculosis and HIV-related illnesses. The reasons for this grim statistic are many and varied: difficulty to access an area for treatment, lack of proper storage facilities, and in many cases the high cost of treatment is the main culprit.
From disease to cure: Why is it so expensive?
There are many reasons why some medicines can cost so much. There is no regulation for fixing the price of a drug, so to try and understand why a particular drug is so expensive, we need to consider the following factors: Is it the only cure available?; Is it a short term or a long-term drug?; Is the patent expired?
We also have to bear in mind that on average medicine takes 10 years to develop from early research, through to clinical trials, and final approval. Within this period, costs can go above billions of dollars. And we also have to consider the fact that most of drugs in development don’t even make it to market!
Artemisin: a success story
Consider Artemisin—a drug used to treat malaria. Artemisin was initially extracted from a plant, a method which presented 2 important disadvantages: Firstly, plants require time to grow and secondly, concentrations of the drug were very low therefore a large amount of the plant was needed to satisfy demand. Due to this reasons there where shortages in the supply chain and prices were high.
After a series of recommendations for improving supply and price issues by the World Health Organization, a second method was developed for extracting Artemisin. The method developed is a bioprocess that involves fermentation of yeast containing Artemisin genes. This allows for larger production of a precursor (substance from which another, usually more active or mature substance is formed) called artemisinic acid. Fermentation is then followed by chemical conversion of this precursor to create Artemisin.
Thanks to this new method, prices went down and demand for this incredibly important medicine was met. As a result, according to AfricaRenewal, between 2000 and 2015, malaria mortality rates decreased by 66% among all group ages.
New production methods - the answer to keeping prices low?
As new genetic engineering tools and new biological pathways are being discovered, biotechnology will continue to design new bioprocesses to allow production of cheaper drugs. This is an incredibly important issue, especially to people living in developing countries.