Report highlights how far biotech has advanced healthcare
An updated report compiled by the BioImpact project draws attention to the numerous benefits that biotechnology can have for healthcare. BioImpact brings together French, UK and European biotechnology groups wishing to raise awareness of the current value and importance of biotechnologies for public health. 'The patient testimonials and science-based information in these updated studies, presented in a clear and accessible manner are proof of the great contribution of biotech to addressing unmet medical needs,' says Andrea Rappagliosi, Chairman of the EuropaBio Healthcare Council, which is a BioImpact partner. At the moment, many biomedicines and biotechnologies are being developed in the US. Mr Rappagliosi thus highlights the importance of creating an optimal environment for the discovery and development of biotech therapies, and for patient access to the therapies. One example of health benefits cited is that of cardio-vascular disease treatment. Heart attacks, strokes and pulmonary embolisms are the primary cause of death and the primary cause of major disability and cognitive loss in the European Union. Blood clots cause over 3 million attacks every year. Before biotechnologists developed thrombolytic agents, cardiovascular incidences linked to clots were treated with anticoagulant agents. These are able to prevent a heart attack, but have little or no ability to destroy a blood clot once it has formed. Thrombolytic agents developed by biotechnology researchers during the 1980s dissolve a blood clot rapidly, and almost totally. When administered quickly after an attack, they can reduce mortality rates by 30%, and reduce the neurological damage resulting from an ischaemic stroke by 20%. Biotechnology has also resulted in significant advances for the treatment of breast cancer. The disease affects 1.5 million women in the EU, and kills 130,000 women every year. Conventional treatment is carried out in two stages: surgery followed by radiotherapy, in addition to chemotherapy and hormone therapy to prevent metastases (the spread of tumour cells). Biotechnology researchers have now been able to identify the genetic markers which indicate that a person has the disease, and develop drugs specific to the cancer cells. These monoclonal antibodies will only attack the cancer cells and have few side effects.