#Prescription-Drugs

Sustainability challenge and related SDGs:

People with disease suffer from a lower quality of life and sometimes premature death. These impairments are recorded for different diseases and reflected in a combined measure (disability-adjusted life years lost). After neonatal conditions, heart disease and stroke are the second and third leading causes of disability-adjusted life years lost worldwide. Together, they account for about 13% of total losses. Patients with chronic lung disease, cancer or depression also suffer a loss of quality of life. To reduce such impairments, #PrescriptionDrugs are used along with other treatments. These can alleviate suffering, prolong life or, in the best cases, cure diseases completely.

Despite all the progress, disparities persist. More efforts are needed to completely eradicate a wide range of diseases and address many different persistent and emerging health problems. Making #PrescriptionDrugs affordable and accessible to those in need can help save many more years of quality of life.

Possible solutions and their contribution to achieving the SDGs

Medicine has made a lot of progress in the last 100 years. #PrescriptionDrugs save lives and improve the quality of life for millions of people. They help patients with curable and, especially, incurable diseases to live healthier, longer, and more fulfilling lives. They also prevent emerging medical problems and chronic diseases.

#PrescriptionDrugs, as the name suggests, require a prescription from a medical professional.

This is mostly because #PrescriptionDrugs can bring negative side effects, such as addictions. For this reason, only medications that have undergone extensive testing and procedures are approved. Examples of #PrescriptionDrugs are beta blockers, antibiotics, drugs for cancer therapy, narcotics, potency remedies or antidiabetics.

Primarily related SDG targets: 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6, 3.8, 3.9, 3.b

Investment Rationale and Growth Potential

For almost all of us, good health is the most important thing in life. Accordingly, we are willing to go to great lengths to maintain our health or restore it if we lose it. The biotech and pharmaceutical sectors target this need by developing and manufacturing medication for all kinds of diseases.

Patents ensure that biotech and pharmaceutical companies' investments in research and development of #PrescriptionDrugs pay off in the long run. As the world's population grows and people age, the global burden of disease will continue to shift toward non-communicable diseases of ageing. #PrescriptionDrugs will remain an interesting market with growth potential.