© 2002 by Oxford University Press
Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Vol. 94, No. 23, 1736-1738,
December 4, 2002
© 2002 Oxford University Press
NEWS |
Investing in Prevention: What Incentive Does the Pharmaceutical Industry Have?
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
Any comprehensive vision for reducing the burden of cancer includes a large dose of chemoprevention. But a daunting array of hurdles stand between this vision and the reality of getting preventive agents into the hands of the people they might benefit.
Pharmaceutical companies continue to spend billions of dollars bringing to market oncologic drugs that will make only small, incremental improvements in cancer treatment. By contrast, the industry has balked at making major investments in chemoprevention research—the kind that might lead to agents that would stop cancer in its most formative stages. Among the major obstacles holding drugmakers back is the vast uncertainty surrounding how preventive drugs could be evaluated and approved in a timely manner, and how—and to whom—they could be marketed.
At an October 18 forum in Boston, industry and government researchers discussed private sector perspectives on developing targeted cancer prevention drugs. The session was part of the