tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3535390.post111719495398868028..comments2024-01-24T11:17:30.926-05:00Comments on Cincinnati Blog: Stem Cell ResearchBrian Griffinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00662857795736971173noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3535390.post-1117414355911786462005-05-29T20:52:00.000-04:002005-05-29T20:52:00.000-04:00My personal interest is in finding a cure for Type...My personal interest is in finding a cure for Type 1 Juvenile Diabetes. My <BR/>now 15 year old daughter was diagnosed almost 5 years ago. So far, she has <BR/>pricked her fingers approximately 11,000 times, and has taken about 7,500 <BR/>insulin injections. If she had cancer, she could hope to be cured – or at <BR/>least to go into remission so she wouldn''t need 4 or 5 or 6 insulin shots <BR/>every day just to stay alive. Right now, all we can hope for is that she <BR/>doesn't have a heart attack or a stroke, that she doesn't go blind, that <BR/>her kidneys keep working and that her feet and legs don't have to be amputated.<BR/><BR/>Now, let me tell you about the economics of diabetes. Diabetics test their <BR/>blood sugar levels at least four times a day – children with type 1 <BR/>juvenile diabetes test more like 6 to 8 timees a day. These little test <BR/>strips that are used to measure blood glucose levels cost, conservatively <BR/>and on average, 70 cents per strip. Diabetics who test their blood glucose <BR/>level just 4 times per day (breakfast, lunch, dinner, bedtime) are spending <BR/>Two Dollars and Eighty Cents per day, or a little over a thousand dollars a <BR/>year, minimum, on these strips. That's over a billion dollars per year for <BR/>every 1 million diabetics, and there are an estimated 17 million people <BR/>suffering from diabetes in the US alone.<BR/><BR/>Next, I am going to review the financials from the 2003 and 2004 Annual <BR/>Reports of Eli Lilly & Company, one of the major producers of insulin. <BR/>Before I do, I want to remind you that insulin will never cure diabetes. It <BR/>is what my 15-year-old refers to as her 'lifeline'. It keeps a diabetic <BR/>alive, but does not prevent the catastrophic side effects. And it will <BR/>never cure anyone!<BR/><BR/>2003: "Our worldwide sales…increaseed 14%, to 12.58 billion dollars." <BR/>Sources of revenue: "Diabetes care products, composed primarily of <BR/>Humulin…Humalog…and Actos…hs…had aggregate worldwide revenues of 2.57 <BR/>billion dollars." Ladies and gentlemen, 20% of the worldwide sales were <BR/>from 3 products, 2 of which (Humulin and Humalog) are for 'maintenance' of <BR/>type 1 diabetics. In 2003, Humulin sales in the US were 507.5 million <BR/>dollars, and were 658.6 million dollars for Humalog.<BR/><BR/>The 2004 numbers are equally staggering. The same three products had <BR/>aggregate worldwide revenues of 2.61 billion dollars. Humulin sales in the <BR/>US were only 422.7 million, but Humalog sales in the US were up to 685.4 <BR/>million dollars. An explanation offered by Eli Lilly is (and this is a <BR/>direct quote!) "Humalog sales in the US increased 3 percent as increased <BR/>prices offset slight volume declines."<BR/><BR/>That's 5.18 billion dollars in a two-year period – to treat patients who <BR/>will not get better. That's a whole loot of insurance and medicare dollars <BR/>going to two drugs to maintain a condition for which there actually might <BR/>be a cure.<BR/><BR/>Breakthroughs using stem cell therapies have been announced all over the <BR/>world, and involving many conditions, such as reversing the side effects of <BR/>diabetes, curing type 1 juvenile diabetes, restoration of immune systems in <BR/>cancer patients, improvement of a Parkinson's patient's motor skills by <BR/>83%, reversal of heart tissue damage in a heart attack victim, the list <BR/>goes on and on. Stem cells work, and more research is needed.<BR/><BR/><BR/>This is not a religious issue. This is a health issue. This is a "where are <BR/>my Medicare dollars going?" issue – a quality of life issue Even though <BR/>the dollars are huge, let's not forget that the main benefits from stem <BR/>cell research and therapies are to improve the health and to save the lives <BR/>of millions who suffer, or who may in the future suffer from diseases that <BR/>could be treated or cured with new stem cell therapies. We are talking <BR/>about improvement of the quality of a human life!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com