Lung and breast cancer: Bridging gap for newer therapies to deliver better clinical outcomes

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs), usually referred to as chronic diseases, are becoming a bigger problem in India. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that NCDs account for 41 million fatalities annually, or 71% of all fatalities worldwide. Diabetes, malignancies, chronic respiratory illnesses, and cardiovascular diseases are the main NCDs. Numerous studies have shown that India now has a higher burden of NCDs.

To address the treatment and management of NCDs in India, various pharmaceutical companies have recently expanded their product lines. Early detection is essential for improving patient survival rates in NCDs like cancer. Today pharma companies have manufactured has a broad range of products in oncology, cardiovascular, renal and metabolism, respiratory and immunology, and rare disorders.

The leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide is cancer. The prevalence of cancer varies across India’s regions, which makes prevention and control extremely difficult. Due to cancer not being a condition that must be reported, the national burden assessment is still a task that many developing nations, including India, rely on statistical models for.

One in four cancer cases in women are diagnosed with breast cancer, making it the most common malignancy in this group. It is the most common form of cancer in both sexes and the main reason why women die from cancer. The most prevalent type of cancer and the main reason for cancer-related deaths worldwide is lung cancer. Lung cancer is the cause of 5.9% of cancer cases and 8.1% of cancer-related deaths in India. Nearly 80% of patients with lung cancer use cigarettes. 2. At several PBCRs, lung cancer is the most common type of cancer among men. Additionally, the age-adjusted incidence rates at the majority of the PBCRs for both sexes have increased throughout the past 5-year assessment period (2012-2016)

How can we bridge the gap:

Affordability – In our country, where more than 55 million people are forced into poverty each year due to out-of-pocket healthcare costs, the cost of drugs has been a touchy matter. Purchasing drugs accounts for slightly more than half of all out-of-pocket healthcare costs. Medicine cost is a critical factor in ensuring that all parts of the population, particularly the poor, have access to medical treatment. Government price limits have become an important strategy for making medications more affordable.

Every couple of years, the Health Ministry of the Central Government compiles a list of essential medicines known as the National List of Essential Medicines. Because they are considered essential medicines, they are subject to direct price regulation under the Drug Price Control Order. Over 376 medications and 857 formulations were included in the 2015 NLEM list, helping to make them more cheap. In addition, under Indian law, the government has the authority to bring medications under the NLEM and regulate their prices as needed. This clause is used by the government to make stents and knee implants more affordable to the general people. The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority, which operates under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, is in charge of enforcing these pricing control regulations

Information Accessibility- It’s very important to raise awareness among the general public about the disease and the possible affordable treatment they can take for it. Information inaccessibility between the common public is the biggest gap that Government of India is trying to uplift. The evolution of digital technology takes into account the fact that information technology can deliver its services to a large population worldwide in a personalised manner that makes daily life more effective, less monotonous, and reimbursable, as well as the fact that it is accurate and consistent in the use of terms and taxonomy and mass customization.

The author is the director of BDR Pharmaceuticals. Views are personal.  

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