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Cancer is the second most common cause of death, only after the
cardiovascular diseases in developed countries.
Research of therapeutical means has been advanced and developed by
universities, scientific institutes, and small to medium sized
pharmaceutical companies in the past 50 years.
Large scale pharmaceutical companies showed little immediate interest
in cancer therapy.
Due to the change.of the age-pyramide and the subsequent significant
increase in cancer on one hand, and the development of more expensive
medication (Gene technology) on the other, the interest changed
considerably.
Large pharmaceutical companies do in intensiv and successful research
or license products from the earlier described or, they buy smaller to
medium sized firms to ensure knowledge and market space, hence
developing a significant change in research and therapy of cancer in a
relatively short time frame. Usually large firms need large indications
to that profit allows for investment in therapeutical developments. Some
examples are breast-, testicular-, lung-, or colon tumor. There are many
people who are affected by any of these diseases, so that large profit
makes it worthwhile for large companies.
Circumstances are much different for patients with a rare type of
cancer. For those patients there are no resources like scientific care,
researching therapeutical alternatives, or the development of new
medication, in the large-scale industry. This makes sense from an
economical standpoint but ultimately leads to worse treatment of
patients with a so called orphan-drug indication. |
