Dr. David Charles, Chairman, Alliance for Patient Access
The Tennessean
In 1993, a drug just approved by the Food and Drug Administration was highlighted in a Fortune magazine article under the eye-catching headline “Fortune Products of the Year.”
The drug was Betaseron. And while the headline was ambitious, the new drug was a medical triumph. It provided doctors with the first successful treatment for multiple sclerosis, a progressive and disabling neurological disorder that often strikes in the prime of life.
But even more important than Betaseron’s clinical success is its origin. It belongs to an exciting new category of drugs known as “biologics.” These medical breakthroughs are manufactured from living biological processes instead of the more basic chemical processes used to produce conventional pharmaceuticals. Betaseron was one of the world’s first modern-day biologics and it changed the course of medicine forever.
