Excerpt from Fortune (6/?/97) article on Helicobacter Pylori (H. Pylori or HP):
1) 85% of all ulcers are caused by HP, and will clear up if the HP are
removed. The remaining 15% are primarily caused by analgesics(asprin,
ibuprofin, ...).
2) Currently less than 50% of ulcers (it isn't said how many exactly) are treated by killing the HP and in 1995 only 16% of ulcers were treated this way.
3) The reasons for this are:
3a) Drug companies had no incentive to move to the new treatment program since Acid Blockers were the number one income earner of all drugs in the US, and antibiotics (on which all patents have run out) to treat HP are cheap. This cost disparity it exacerbated by the fact that Acid Blockers must normally be taken by the patient for the rest of their life, but the antibiotics need only be taken for several weeks.
3b) Doctors are a conservative lot, especially since most of them only move to new treatments as a result of drug company training programs. (Of course the extra follow-up care required for a continuous program is an incentive not to change.)
3c) The HP is a tough organism to kill, and the treatment program often requires 16 pills per day. The Acid Blockers only require 2 pills per day.
3d) The FDA approved the first HP treatments in April 1996.
4) The reluctance to switch to treatment of HP vs Acid Blockers is largely being overcome by HMOs which find that the antibiotics are much cheaper than a continuous supply of Acid Blockers.
5) In the US 50% of all people 50 years old have HP, 60% of 60 year olds, ..., but only 20% of all people with HP develop ulcers. Note that other countries, like Peru or Japan, have a much higher incidence of HP infections(close to 100%?).
6) There appears to be a strong link between having HP and eventually
developing stomach cancer (although whether an ulcer is required or not is not discussed.). Note: This might imply that everyone should be treated for HP, ulcers or not, if they have it.
Clark (a new investor in QDEL) |
