Exploring the Drug Innovations in Top 10 Medical Innovations for 2018

Recently, the 2017 Medical Innovation Summit held at Cleveland Clinic selected the Top 10 Medical Innovations for 2018, which was selected by a strong jury of over 100 top medicinal workers from the world, led by Michael Roizen, M.D., Chief Wellness Officer at Cleveland Clinic, therefore, it has great credibility. Next, let’s focus on the drug innovations in the Top 10 Medical Innovations for 2018.

The Top 10 Medical Innovations for 2018 selected by the Summit include Hybrid Closed-Loop Insulin Delivery System, Neuromodulation to Treat Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Gene Therapy for Inherited Retinal Diseases, The Unprecedented Reduction of LDL Cholesterol, The Emergence of Distance Health, Next Generation Vaccine Platforms, Arsenal of Targeted Breast Cancer Therapies, Enhanced Recovery After Surgery, Centralized Monitoring of Hospital Patients, and Scalp Cooling for Reducing Chemotherapy Hair Loss, wherein, those directly involving drug innovations include Gene Therapy for Inherited Retinal Diseases, The Unprecedented Reduction of LDL Cholesterol, and Arsenal of Targeted Breast Cancer Therapies.

Let’s first talk about the Gene Therapy for Inherited Retinal Diseases. Currently, all the marketed drugs could not treat eye diseases associated with RPE65 gene mutations, which have been a big problem in the medical world. Earlier this year, FDA awarded orphan drug status to RPE65 gene therapy, and recently has further recommended accelerated approval for the marketing of the therapy. The therapy mainly uses virus as vector, to have it carry gene into cell, to compensate for RPE65 gene mutations, and reach the effects of treating Leber's congenital amaurosis, retinitis pigmentosa, and other eye diseases.

The other drug innovation is The Unprecedented Reduction of LDL Cholesterol. According to statistics, in the U.S. alone, there are over 100 million people affected by high cholesterol, and every year, over 400 thousand people die of coronary disease associated with cholesterol. We know that low-density lipoprotein ("LDL") cholesterol was known as bad cholesterol, and drug developers have been exploring excellent drugs that can reduce body LDL. The latest research has discovered that LDL levels could be reduced by maximum 75% with statins in combination with new cholesterol-lowering drugs (PCSK9 inhibitors), thereby to effectively treat myocardial infarction, stroke, and other diseases. The positive results of this research are expected to be further validated and used in clinical trial in 2018, and it will be a drug innovation benefiting broad populations.

Brest cancer has been a disease that attracts much attention in the medical world. There have been countless therapies such as hormone therapy, chemotherapy and radiation developed in recent years, and they have achieved certain results, however, they seem to be less than perfect due to big side effects, etc. The targeted cancer therapies that have emerged in recent years bring new opportunities for the treatment of many cancers, and have advantages like good efficacy, and small side effects. The targeted therapies like PARP inhibitors for mutations in BRCA1 or BRCA2, and novel CDK 4/6 inhibitors for ER+/HER2- breast cancer have been successfully developed recently, which offers bright prospects to the targeted breast cancer therapies. Targeted breast cancer therapies will also be further developed and used in 2018, to benefit more patients.

In general, the three drug innovations in the Top 10 Medical Innovations for 2018 show the attention to rare disease (RPE65 gene mutations), and also to therapeutics for major diseases like coronary disease and breast cancer. Amazing results have been obtained in the development of drugs for those diseases thanks to the joint efforts of global medicinal workers, and they have been used or are expected to be further used to treat corresponding diseases. They fully deserve to be selected among the Top 10 Medical Innovations.

Source: Cleveland Clinic website