Propelling Innovation in Drug Discovery, Development, and Evaluation

Biomedical innovations—including advances in medicines, medical procedures, and public health—have provided extraordinary benefits to the U.S. public. We live longer and we live healthier than our forebears.

Life expectancy at birth has risen from around 47 years at the turn of the 20th century to 78 years today. Many diseases that were once fatal or debilitating can now be prevented, delayed, or ameliorated. While nutrition, sanitation, other public health measures, and expanded access to care have been major sources of increasing human health, innovative medicines have also played a profound role in this progress. Infections that were the leading cause of mortality in the early 20th century are now largely eliminated. Vaccines have led to the eradication or control of many devastating infectious diseases, including polio, small pox, diphtheria, and measles. Pneumonia, the leading cause of death in the early 20th century, is now effectively treated with antibiotics. First recognized in 1981, HIV is now treated with over 20 Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drugs, although more progress is still needed. Multi-drug regimens effectively control HIV infection, preventing the development of AIDS. Pharmaceutical therapies have led to cures for multiple malignancies that were once universally fatal; for example, childhood leukemia is now cured in 80 percent of cases, testicular cancer in over 90 percent of cases, and Hodgkin’s lymphoma in over 90 percent of cases. Along with a reduction in smoking and better medical care, cholesterol-lowering therapy, blood-pressure-lowering drugs, anti-platelet agents, and diabetes treatment have contributed to a substantial decrease in death from heart attacks (70 percent decline over the past 60 years).