New Report Offers Hope for Closing Health Gap for African Americans, With Nearly 700 Medicines i...(icines designed to treat cardiovascular ...),Health

-- 95 medicines in development for diabetes. According to the American Diabetes Association, African Americans are nearly two times more likely to have diabetes compared with whites.

-- 77 medicines for respiratory disorders, including asthma. According to the American Lung Association, African Americans have the highest asthma rate of any other racial and ethnic group. They are also three times more likely to die from asthma than whites.

-- 67 medicines that target HIV infection. Although the overall estimated numbers of new HIV infections have been decreasing, African Americans accounted for 49 percent of cases of HIV infection diagnosed in 2005, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Other medicines in development tackle kidney disease, glaucoma, obesity, and sickle cell disease.

To read the report on the PhRMA Web site, click on the following link: http://www.phrma.org

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) represents the country's leading pharmaceutical research and biotechnology companies, which are devoted to inventing medicines that allow patients to live longer, healthier, and more productive lives. PhRMA companies are leading the way in the search for new cures. PhRMA members alone invested an estimated $43 billion in 2006 in discovering and developing new medicines. Industry wide research and investment reached a record $55.2 billion in 2006.

PhRMA Internet Address: http://phrma.org

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