I am always amazed that new drugs are being developed and approved by the FDA in this country. In the years to come, I want to read that a botanical medicine or an herb has been approved by the FDA for a cancer or a disease.
For years, patients with Hepatitis C needed a 13 month protocol with interferon. There were many side effects with this therapy and most patients could not finish the protocol. Today, treatment with Mavyret (glecaprevir and pibrentasvir) requires as few as eight weeks of therapy. It was evaluated in 2,300 patients with 6 different genotypes. While there were side effects such as nausea and fatigue, the side effects were better tolerated than those of the older treatment options.
I recently read of a new IV antibiotic for urinary tract infections. This scares me as we will start to develop resistance this drug. Vabomere (meropenem and vaborbactam) was studied in 545 patients with a high efficacy of about 98%.
Technology in medicine in regards to treatment is excellent, but I stil feel we need to be cautious.
Until tomorrow...