Is it “all about the money?” Depends how you spin it…

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In case you missed it, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has set a date for an advisory committee meeting to review the company’s application for approval of pomalidomide:  November 8th of this year.

The agency is expected to make a decision about pomalidomide’s (New trade name, Actimid) application sometime early in February, 2013.

Pomalidomide is an analogue of thalidomide–the next, best member of an oral chemotherapy family that also includes Revlimid.  Like its cousins, pomalidomide is an oral immunomodulatory agent (IMiD™).  It looks very promising–possibly  the best of all the “new” myeloma drugs.  I will keep everyone updated on the new drug’s progress.

Which leads me to this:

“Multiple Myeloma Drug Market Will Reach $9.9 Billion in 2015″ Predicts Visiongain Report

A new report by Visiongain predicts that the world market for multiple myeloma drug sales will reach $9.9 billion in 2015.  That revenue forecast and others appear in World Multiple Myeloma Drug Treatment Market 2012-2022, published in September 2012.  Visiongain is a business information provider based in London, UK.

That’s a lot of CASH!  Is this a big deal?  YOU BET!  The more money involved, the more likely additional companies and start-ups are going to try and get involved.  More money for clinical trials and patient support programs.

Innovation tends to follow the almighty dollar.  That’s one way to spin it.

Now, if we could only do something to help encourage drug companies to be truly innovative.  “New” myeloma drugs?  The next generation of Thalomid/Revlimid?  That’s the best that Celgene can do?  How about  “new” Velcade?  Kyprolis and soon MLN9708?  All proteasome inhibitors.  Where’s the creativity?

None of these drugs are cures.  Not even close.  Too bad that these companies–  the ones expected to gross 10 billion dollars in one year–can’t set aside 10% of that money to do some creative and meaningful research moving forward.

Better yet?  Take 10% of the 10% and spend it on ways to help improve a patient’s quality of life!  Don’t just forget about us and move on.

Investigate new ways that we can all live better while taking one or more of these drugs for decades at a time.  Individualized dosing.  Combining drugs at lower doses in order to achieve the same–or even better–results.  Studying what using these drugs for years at a time really does to our bodies–and then find ways to help minimize the fallout.

A guy can dream, right?

Feel good and keep smiling!  Pat