The need for medicines

WHAT MUST BEEN DONE

Cancer and cardiovascular disease are the two main causes of death in the UK. In fact, cancer takes more than 200 forms and there are many different types of cardiovascular disease. Important advances have been made, but these two areas continue to kill large numbers of people prematurely.

Prevention and treatment of disabling diseases such as multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy and rheumatoid arthritis is badly needed.

One person in seven suffers from the painful conditions of rheumatism and arthritis.

One person in 30 has asthma and the rate in children is growing. Despite advances in asthma treatment, around 2,000 people die from it each year in UK alone.

Malaria and leprosy are just two of the many diseases which kill or disable millions of people.

Advances in genetics research are beginning to give researchers a real understanding of what goes wrong in many diseases that we knew little about in the past. This knowledge is desperately needed so that new medicines can get closer to the root of the problem and therapy can be developed to overcome genetically caused problems.

Continued genetics research is also needed to help doctors decide who is likely to be helped and who will react badly to particular treatments – with potentially huge benefits both for the individual and the NHS.

New diseases such as AIDS and hepatitis C can always emerge.