New Year, New Medicine Approvals!

Just in time for the New Year, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) released their annual guide on medicine approvals and therapy recommendations, and 2018 marked another year with a strong focus on approving new treatments for diseases that impact the lives of patients every day, as well as encouraging new treatment innovations to better patients’ quality of life.The report, Advancing Health Through Innovation: New Drug Therapy Approvals, outlines the work that the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) has done during the past year in reviewing these innovative medicines. The goal of approving new uses for medicines and encouraging innovative therapies is undoubtedly to help patients in need and inspire medical innovation for years to come.FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research approved new treatments for rare diseases and infectious disease, but also focused their attention on approving treatments for many health conditions that patients face every day, including neurological disorders, heart, lung, and circulatory diseases, cancer and blood disorders, and women’s health disorders.For many seniors, these approvals are great news! There are new formulations of medicines that have been approved to be taken on an empty stomach rather than with food, allowing for easier adherence to medical direction. There are also medications that have been approved in chewable forms for patients who aren’t able to easily swallow pills, which is helpful for many seniors. Medications were also approved that specifically affect seniors, like one drug that can be used in combination with a type of chemotherapy to treat acute myeloid leukemia in adults who are 75 years of age or older with multiple health conditions, in addition to many other cancer drugs which can be used as part of an overall course of treatment.New approvals allow increased access to treatment options and medications for patients who may have been lacking a best-fit treatment in the past. Talk to your doctor about these new treatment options and if they could work for you! And always make sure you know what medicines are covered under your Medicare plan as treatments continue to evolve and improve, and drug formularies change. We can’t wait to see what medical progress 2019 brings!