Global Shortage Of Parkinson’s Drug Shows Vulnerability
(bioasis tech blog)
Jim Edwards on the Pharma Industry blog has a great post on the worldwide shortage of Sinemet, the Parkinson’s drug sold by Merck and Co. While the situation seems temporary, it grimly exposes our under-preparedness for facing major neurological diseases in the future. The lack of cures for neurological disease and our dependence on symptom-relieving drugs shows how we are still lagging behind in solving one of our biggest challenges in the pharma industry today – curing neurological diseases.
Worldwide shortage of Sinemet has patients panicking
Merck and Co. had put out an announcement back in 2009 warning about the shortage without providing any specifics. Now, as the lack of availability is becoming evident across the world, people have been rushing to stock-up on their supplies. While this situation is grim by itself, it exposes one of our major challenges to come in the near future. The impact of neurological diseases 30-4o years down the line is staggering and we don’t seem to be on a path for facing this challenge. According to the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation, about 4 million people around the world suffer from Parkinson’s disease today. With natural aging, increasing lifespans and lack of neurological disease treatments, we can expect this number to accelerate quickly. While our lack of preparedness is already a problem, we definitely cannot afford to face shortages in the available options for neurological diseases today.
…..The situation with Sinemet’s shortage, although temporary, hints to us the potential for a worse situation 20 to 30 years down the line.
Bioasis Technologies Inc.
http://blog.bioasis.ca/?p=2927