The pharmaceutical industry has in the R&D phase 140 new medicines against mental disorders
To the suffering of patients and relatives there are costs that in the European Union equal 4% of the GDP of the member countries
This Thursday marks the World Mental Health Day, focused on suicide prevention
Source: www.farmaindustria.es
The pharmaceutical industry currently has 140 new treatments focused on the field of psychiatric diseases, according to the latest data from Phrma, the association of pharmaceutical companies in the United States. This Thursday, October 10, World Mental Health Day is celebrated, which constitutes an opportunity to raise awareness and mobilize the population about issues related to mental health and that, on this occasion, is focused on suicide prevention .
75% of these R&D treatments present completely new mechanisms of action for patients suffering from this type of pathologies, which, in addition to the suffering of patients and their families, represent a huge cost for health and social security systems , also in terms of low productivity and absenteeism. In fact, according to a recent report by the European Commission and the OECD, mental illness has a cost equivalent to 4% of the GDP of the countries of the European Union, an amount exceeding 600,000 million euros annually.
Fortunately, the existence of increasingly effective treatments is allowing to mitigate these negative effects. In fact, treatment with adequate medication allows a 32% improvement in work performance and generates savings of more than $ 7,500 per employee per year, according to a study published by the journal Value in Health.
In terms of health, it is estimated that one in every six inhabitants of the EU has some mental health problem, with all the limitations that it entails in the workplace, school and, of course, health: not in vain in 2015 they were registered in community countries 84,000 deaths directly related to mental health and suicides. Therefore, as noted by the authors of the aforementioned EC report, “promoting mental health and improving access to treatments should be a priority.”
Access and affordable prices
Precisely one of the keys to facilitate access is the existence of affordable prices. In this regard, with regard to Spain, it is worth mentioning, for example, how the most used drugs against depression and other mental health problems have seen their unit price reduced by 69% between 2001 and 2016, limiting the monthly price of treatment at 5.7 euros.
As a whole, according to IQVIA consultancy estimates, anti-depression medications, including innovations that are still protected by patents, have reduced their treatment cost by 45.7% from 2009 to 2018, to 11.57 euros monthly
In Distefar we add to the importance of research focused on psychiatric diseases.
