A cure for cancer prevention?
Novartis is developing a drug that eliminates cancer
Sergey Kolenov, Hi-tech+
According to the company's representatives, the best way to cure cancer is not to get sick with it. And the appearance of such a universal protective agent is possible in the near future. There is only one problem that can delay its entry into the market – the unwillingness of insurance companies to pay for a drug, the effect of which can be noticeable decades later.
Researchers regularly create more and more powerful drugs against cancer. However, the pharmaceutical giant Novartis intends to develop a revolutionary new drug that will prevent the development of the disease long before it appears, Business Insider reports.
This was stated to the publication by Jay Bradner, head of the company's Institute of Biomedical Research. Before joining Novartis in 2016, he was one of Harvard's brightest cancer scientists.
According to Bradner, Novartis will focus on studying the biochemical pathways leading to the development of cancer and finding the molecules that affect them. Most of these compounds are poorly understood, since they are useless in the treatment of cancer that has already arisen.
Novartis' competitors are taking a completely different approach to drug development. First, they synthesize a drug that can help with advanced forms of cancer, and only then check its preventive potential. For example, tamoxifen, created for the treatment of breast cancer, is now used by healthy women who are at increased risk.
The main problem for Novartis' ambitious plan may be the unwillingness of insurance companies to pay for medications that will take effect only decades later. However, Bradner claims that some insurers with whom he spoke during the World Economic Forum in Davos are ready to change their approaches to the expediency of insurance payments in the case of cancer prevention.
Since the development of preventive anticancer drugs is just starting, it is premature to talk about their cost. There is a fear that it will be very high, as with other innovative drugs from Novartis. For example, a gene therapy drug developed by this company will cost $4-5 million per course. Such a high price tag has already angered users of social networks.
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