TAMPA, Fla., Nov. 8, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The pharmaceutical industry's contributions to global public health will be spotlighted at the 2012 ISPE Annual Meeting in San Francisco, 11-14 November 2012. From nearly halving the rate of recurrence or death from breast cancer to extending the lives of patients diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, pharmaceutical drugs have had a tremendous positive impact on a global scale.
"The pharmaceutical industry bears great responsibility for producing safe medicines that lengthen life expectancy and improve quality of life for patients around the world every day," said ISPE President and CEO Nancy Berg. "The 20,000 pharmaceutical professionals who belong to ISPE dedicate their professional lives and countless hours of personal time working to improve development, production quality and distribution processes so that patients have life-saving medications that are reliably available and safe."
Here are just some examples of improvements the pharmaceutical industry has made in the welfare of patients:
- Medicines and treatments contributed to a 45% decline in deaths from heart attack and heart disease.
- The survival rate for patients suffering from leukemia has quadrupled in the past 49 years, due to the development of new medications and the discovery of new uses for existing medications.
- The rate of cancer deaths has dramatically declined, with one major study reporting that new medicines account for 50-60% of survival increases.
- The survival rate of children with cancer has increased 40% since 1975.
- Since the introduction of highly active antiretroviral treatments (HAART) in 1995, the death rate from AIDS has plummeted from 16.2 per 100,000 to just 2.7 in 2010.
- Combination drug therapy can eliminate Hepatitis C in up to five out of 10 persons with the most common genotype in the U.S.
- Multiple Sclerosis patients depend on numerous FDA-approved medications to improve their quality of life, and in some cases, slow the underlying course of the disease.
Pharmaceutical companies produce medicines that have revolutionized the fight against disease and saved or improved lives everywhere. New medicines are helping patients live longer and healthier lives. The 2012 ISPE Annual Meeting will bring together pharmaceutical professionals and regulatory authorities from around the world for strategic discussions that will allow the industry to continue to improve public health in more efficient and effective ways.
For more information on ISPE's Annual Meeting, please visit www.ISPE.org/2012AnnualMeeting.
About ISPE
ISPE, the International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering is the world's largest not-for-profit association serving its Members through leading scientific, technical and regulatory advancement throughout the entire pharmaceutical lifecycle. The 20,000 Members of ISPE are building solutions in the development and manufacture of safe and effective pharmaceutical and biologic medicines and medical delivery devices in more than 90 countries around the world. Founded in 1980, ISPE has its worldwide headquarters in Tampa, Florida, USA and offices in Brussels, Belgium, Singapore and Shanghai, China. Visit www.ISPE.org for more information.
For more information contact:
Danielle Hould
ISPE Communications Manager
Tel: +1-813-960-2105, ext. 277
email: [email protected]
www.ISPE.org