Bristol Myers Does The Right Thing!

Bristol-Myers Squibb company had a good week, with its Hepatitis B drug, Baraclude being given a thumbs up by the FDA advisory committee in United States. Granted, Hepatitis B is not a huge market in United States, and the monetary rewards for the company are rather limited, but this drug could be very important for the Asian countires. In fact, Baraclude is likely to have a positive impact to more people than many of the big Pharma products, simply because of the severity of Hepatitis B problem around the world.

To quote WHO,
"Hepatitis B is one of the major diseases of mankind and is a serious global public health problem. It is preventable with safe and effective vaccines that have been available since 1982. Of the 2 billion people who have been infected with the hepatitis B virus (HBV), more than 350 million have chronic (lifelong) infections."

Yes, you read it right, there are over 2 billion people infected with this disease!! About 5% or 60 million Indians suffer from chronic Hepatitis B infection. The rate is not much different in China. And Baraclude is designed to help just these chronically ill patients. Being approved in United States, even when profits here are going to be miniscule, is an important statement. It tells the world that drug is safe and indeed good enough to withstand the scrutiny of the FDA. This will make it easier to get approvals in other countries, many of which rely on "certificate of free sale" for their own approvals.

So, in this day and age, when it seems to be more fashionable to develop lifestyle drugs that bring in tons of profits, Bristol-Myers Squibb seems to have done the right thing. This drug is never going to be a block buster - and yet they have developed it. And because they have developed it, many patients who would never have had a chance otherwise, will now be able to benefit from the miracle of modern technology, not just in the developed nations but around the world.