Our view: Working together for the common good

A group of top pharmaceutical companies have teamed up to develop diagnostic tests to identify patients at risk of dangerous adverse drug reactions.

By Anonymous (not verified) on Nov 20, 2007

A group of top pharmaceutical companies have teamed up to develop diagnostic tests to identify patients at risk of dangerous adverse drug reactions. The Serious Adverse Events Consortium (SAEC), which includes Abbott, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Roche, sanofi-aventis and Wyeth, will begin by searching for genetic links to severe liver toxicity and the dangerous skin condition known as Stevens-Johnson syndrome.

The industry collaborators will partner with the US Food and Drug Administration and academic institutions to identify patients' differing genetic responses to medicines. According to participants in the SAEC, by developing genetic tests to identify vulnerable individuals, these patients can avert the risk, while the majority can continue to benefit from the treatment.

The aim of the project, according to Duncan McHale, a researcher of Pfizer and co-chairman of the consortiums scientific management committee, was to avoid the situation where drugs that clearly offer patients benefits have to be removed from the market because a small number of patients experience severe adverse reactions.

Arthur Holden, the consortium's chief executive, says the companies will provide $1 billion a year in funding to support the research, which will be conducted by contractors and academic institutions.

Clearly the industry has a significant financial and reputational interest in keeping its drugs on the market, but this is also a really important step forward for patient safety. To keep life saving drugs available to the many, while protecting the few who are likely to experience severe adverse reactions, is a win all around for patients, regulators and drug makers.

Its particularly nice, however, to see pharma companies come together to collaborate for the common good. Its something pharma should do more of to avoid many of the potentially adverse events the industry itself faces as it struggles to fill its pipelines and keep patients, payors and regulators happy and safe.

Author: Lisa Roner, Editor, eyeforpharma Briefing