Many people do not take their medications as prescribed because they forget or cannot afford them. A recent survey found that even those with health insurance sometimes skip pills to save money on copayments.
The availability of WHO-recommended priority lifesaving medicines in health facilities enables to reduce disease burden and ensures equitable access to healthcare services.
Lapatinib
Lapatinib distributor, also known as GW572016 and Tykerb, is an orally available small-molecule reversible tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) that targets both HER1 and HER2. It binds to the phosphorylation site of the HER1 and HER2 receptors preventing their activation thereby blocking downstream signaling that promotes cell growth and survival. Lapatinib is able to cross the blood-brain barrier and is active against Her2 positive metastatic cancers that have not responded to prior chemotherapy with anthracyclines or taxanes.
Lapatinib is FDA approved in combination with capecitabine for the treatment of advanced or metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer. It has also been shown to be effective in the first-line setting as a single agent in HER2 overexpressed gastric or esophageal adenocarcinoma.
Clinically, hepatitis develops in 2% to 6% of patients receiving lapatinib therapy, and can result in hepatomegaly or liver failure. Elevations of serum aminotransferases to 5 times the upper limit of normal should prompt a dose reduction or temporary cessation of therapy. The mechanism of hepatotoxicity appears to be primarily related to inhibition of hepatic cytochrome P450 (CYP) activity.
Leukemia Drugs
The blood cells in your bone marrow develop into red blood cells that carry oxygen and other materials to all tissues and organs in the body, white blood cells that fight infection and platelets that help your blood clot. When you have leukemia, developing blood cells with a mistake in their DNA (the “instruction code” that tells cells when and how to grow) start multiplying out of control. These abnormal cells crowd out health red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets.
However, some patients experience recurrence of their leukemia after going into remission. This is because, even though the leukemia cells are no longer detectable, there may be microscopic amounts of these cells lingering in the body. A new study suggests that a drug called revumenib can lower the risk of recurrence in people with AML with a certain genetic mutation.
Researchers in a clinical trial published in Nature found that patients with AML who had a KMT2A rearrangement or NPM1 mutation were more likely to respond to revumenib than other patients. The majority of those treated experienced remission, including 18 who had a complete remission that lasted for nine months or more.
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company is a global biopharmaceutical company with a focus on innovative therapies that address unmet medical needs. The company’s leading products like Sprycel, Empliciti, Opdivo and Yervoy reflect its commitment to improving people’s lives through breakthrough medicines. Its emphasis on innovation and partnerships, along with its patient-centric approach ensure that the company continues to lead the field of hematology treatments and other life-saving drugs for health.
Hepatitis C Drugs
Medications are curing hepatitis C at rates never before seen in patients. Most of these drugs remove all traces of the virus from your body within 12 weeks and leave you with few or no side effects. If you follow your doctor’s advice for lifestyle changes, you can maintain these results. The success rate is 90% or higher. This is because of new medications called direct-acting antivirals, which zoom in on the specific virus that’s making you sick. The new medicines also take less time to work than the older ones.
The most popular pill is sofosbuvir (Sovaldi) and velpatasvir (Epclusa). It’s a two-in-one combination tablet that treats all six major hepatitis C genotypes, including cirrhosis. It costs about $89,700 for an 8-week course.
The four-drug combination of ombitasvir, dasabuvir, paritaprevir and ritonavir (Viekira Pak) is another option. It has similar effectiveness to the epclusa/sofosbuvir combo and is available for people with advanced liver disease.
Many countries, particularly middle-income ones, are struggling with the high cost of the hepatitis C medications. Despite these barriers, they’re finding ways to make the drugs more affordable. For example, in Argentina, a hepatitis C treatment costs up to $10,000 per patient.
A company called DNDi has been working with the manufacturers to reduce the price. The goal is to lower the price so that hepatitis C drugs can be used to treat more patients.
DNDi hopes to launch a low-cost version of ravidasvir/sofosbuvir by 2022. The new medications can help prevent severe, possibly fatal complications of chronic hepatitis C like liver cancer and cirrhosis. They can even reduce the number of people who need liver transplants. They could also lower death rates from hepatitis-related diseases and other infections. These hepatitis C drugs will save lives and change the world’s view of the disease.
Cancer Drugs
Cancer drugs prevent cancer cells from growing and multiplying uncontrollably. These drugs can be used alone, or in combination with other treatments such as radiation or surgery. They can also help ease symptoms and improve quality of life for people with advanced cancer (called palliative chemotherapy).
Many cancer drugs are systemic, meaning they travel throughout the bloodstream to attack cancer cells wherever they may be located. The drugs are typically given in cycles, with a period of days or weeks between each treatment session.
Some cancer drugs can be expensive, especially those that are the most effective. For example, ipilimumab, an immunotherapy drug that is prescribed for melanoma, has an estimated annual cost of $120,000 for four doses.
Generic oncology drugs, including cisplatin, carboplatin and methotrexate, are currently in short supply in the United States due to manufacturing and distribution issues. These shortages have caused some health care providers to delay or alter patient treatments.
The top-selling drug in 2023 was Merck & Co’s Keytruda, with sales of $25 billion. Other top-selling cancer drugs included Revlimid, Opdivo and Imbruvica.
