In Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States, many new medicines are approved each year by the authorities (the EMA, the MHRA and the FDA respectively), which also publish a list of medicines approved in the previous year at the beginning of the year. A recent mini-review published in the British Journal of Pharmacology, with Professor Péter Ferdinandy among the authors, can help us to find our way around these new medicines. This is much needed, as in the last year alone, 70 new drugs have been launched, 30 of which are ‘first in class’ drugs, and the article focuses on these in more detail. Of the three authorities, the FDA is typically the “fastest”, so a significant number of these new active substances were launched in the US last year – these are likely to appear in next year’s EMA newsletter and will also be available in Hungary.
From a structural point of view, out of the 70 medications, 37 are small-molecule, 16 are protein-based biological therapeutic agents, 11 are advanced therapeutic or RNA-based preparations, and 6 are vaccines. In terms of indication area, as has been typical in recent years, oncology drugs are the largest group, followed by immunology and non-onco-haematology drugs. It is important to highlight that new advanced therapy products have also been launched for the treatment of a number of rare congenital diseases, such as haemophilia A and B, sickle cell anaemia and β-thalassaemia.
Full text is available on this link.