Innovation continued benefits

Pharmaceutical drug products have become increasingly important to providing consumers with a myriad of treatments and cures that increase life expeetaney and enhance lives. It is critieal to maintain appropriate incentives for the development of new drug products, because the neeessary research and development is risky and costly. Innovation in the pharmaeeutieal industry, spurred in part by eompetitive market forces, continues to bring enormous benefits to Americans. 

The EU policy on chemical substances aims to provide an appropriate balance between protection of human health and environment from undesirable exposure to chemicals and the need for continued chemical innovation so that the citizens of the EU can reahze the potential benefits (EU 2006c). 

A basic premise of this paper is that prescription (or ethical) drugs have been providing and will continue to provide a benefit to society. The important thing about drug innovation should be that it is a benefit to societal health, not that it possibly means the financial growth of drug firms. 

The chemical industry has a long history of product and process innovation and has provided enormous benefits to society. Since the late 19th century the industry has continually developed new products and processes, improved its functionality and cost-effectiveness, and displaced many traditional materials. Its products are now integrated into many economic sectors and it has a history of collaborating with its customers to develop innovative solutions. As a result there has been a dramatic increase in the use of chemicals and plastics, and these have provided tremendous cost savings as well as improved functionality (Sherman, Chapter 4, Section 4.6 of this volume). Safer and more efficient automobiles, and large-scale... 

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