Nexus - 1103 - New Times Magazine-pages

Page Content (OCR)

OB tes Ny E\N? GLAXO SAYS MOST DRUGS DON'T WORK ON MOST PATIENTS DRUG COMPANIES KNEW HRT RISKS FIVE YEARS BEFORE THE PUBLIC senior executive with A, Britain's biggest drugs com- pany has admitted that most pre- scription medicines do not work on most people who take them. Dr Allen Roses, worldwide Vice-President of Genetics at GlaxoSmithKline, said fewer than half of the patients pre- scribed some of the most expen- sive drugs actually derived any benefit from them. It is an open secret within the drugs industry that most of its products are ineffective in most patients, but this is the first time that such a senior drugs boss has gone public. Drugs for Alzheimer's disease work in fewer than one in three patients, whereas those for cancer are only effective in a quarter of patients. Drugs for migraines, osteoporosis and arthritis work in about half the patients, Dr Roses said. Most drugs work in fewer than one in two patients, mainly because the recipients carry genes that interfere in some way with the medicine, he said. "Roses is a smart guy, and what he is saying will surprise the public but not his colleagues," said one industry scientist. "He is a pioneer of a new culture within the drugs business based on using genes to test for who can benefit from a particular drug.” with or DY companies knew about the health risks surrounding hormone replacement therapy (HRT) five years before members of the public were informed. Thousands of women may have been put at unnecessary risk because they were involved in HRT trials when experts knew that the menopause treatments increased the risk of heart disease. But the data, collated by the drug companies for licensing applications for their HRT prod- ucts, was kept secret and not pub - lished. Experts who tried to raise concerns about HRT were ridiculed. Researchers say the HRT case exposes the "strong vested interests and biased reporting" in the way drugs are licensed and tested by pharmaceutical companies. (Source: The Independent, UK, 28 February 2004) Dr Roses has a formidable reputation in the field of "pharmacogenomics"—the application of human genetics to drug development—and his comments can be seen as an attempt to make the industry realise that its future rests on being able to target drugs to a smaller number of patients with specific genes. "Neither those who pay for medical care nor patients want drugs to be prescribed that do not benefit the recipient. Pharmacogenetics has the promise of removing much of the uncertainty," Dr Roses said. (Source: The Independent, UK, 8 December 2003) PENTAGON GEARS UP FOR SPACE-BASED WEAPONS United States Air Force report is giv- ing what analysts call the most detailed picture since the end of the Cold War of the Pentagon's efforts to turn outer space into a battlefield. The US Air Force Transformation Flight Plan, released last November, makes US dominance of the heavens a top Pentagon priority in the new century. And it runs through dozens of research programs designed to ensure that America can never be challenged in orbit—programs from anti-satellite lasers to weapons that "would provide the capability to strike ground tar- gets anywhere in the world from space". Space has become an increasingly important part of US military efforts. Satellites are used more and more to talk to troops, keep tabs on foes and guide smart bombs. There's also long been recognition that satellites may need some sort of pro- tection against attack. But the Air Force report goes far beyond these defensive capabilities, calling for weapons that can cripple other countries’ orbiters. That prospect worries some analysts that the United States may spark a worldwide arms race in orbit. a . "They're working on something to stop this ‘flu from killing us, so they can restore confidence to the business of killing us themselves." 6 = NEXUS APRIL — MAY 2004 www.nexusmagazine.com