How Diabetes is Impacting Pharma and the NHS
Diabetes is a common lifelong condition that is currently affecting the health of many people in the UK. It is estimated that there is currently 1 in 16 people living with the disease either diagnosed or undiagnosed. Under normal circumstances the pancreas produces insulin, a hormone that allows glucose to enter cells to be used for energy. Those afflicted with diabetes cannot produce enough/any insulin to regulate the glucose in the blood.
Classified into two types, Type 1 and Type 2, the former is the lack of insulin and is primarily diagnosed at a young age, whereas those with type Two tends to occur in those over the age of 30 and cannot produce enough insulin or the hormone is not being used properly. Studies have also shown that 90% of those living with diabetes have type two.
Over the past decade diabetes has become more of a major issue within the UK, there are currently 3.9 million affected in the UK and this number is expected to grow to 5 million by 2025. In particular, the rate of those being diagnosed with type two diabetes has grown drastically not only in the UK but globally.
Many believe that the increasing prevalence of diabetes, in particular type two, is due to increased obesity within the population, as those who are obese have an 80-85% risk of developing type 2 version of the disease.
The condition often comes hand in hand with other diseases and conditions such as:
• Cardiovascular disease
• Kidney Disease
• Eye Disease
• Neuropathy
While also affecting mental health and life expectancy, cardiovascular disease alone accounts for 44% of fatalities of those with type 1 diabetes and 52% of those with type 2.
As a result, the NHS is currently spending an estimated £10 billion on diabetes, which works out to approximately £1 million an hour. While the overall UK cost associated with diabetes is estimated at £23.7 billion and expected to rise to £39.8 billion 2035/6.
With such a fast growing demand for diabetes related care and therapies, recent advances in medical technology has given the rise to new equipment and techniques such as personalised medicine to become a reality for those with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes within the UK.
Personalised Medicine is where medical decisions and practises, and/or products are tailored to an individual patient. This therefore cuts down on time and guesswork made by health practitioners to achieve positive results with managing the condition.
Techniques such as diagnostic testing are often employed for selecting appropriate and optimal therapies based on the context of a patient’s genetic content or other molecular or cellular analysis.
With a more personalised approach to medicine taking place, a new approach needs to be taken to clinical research and development. Complexity levels of trials are rising due to Protocols now expanding to include genetic/proteomic assessment, therefore Regulatory Agencies have started to integrate personalised medicine into their regulatory policies requiring additional oversight to be applied to each process within a Clinical Trial.
These advancements in research are phenomenal for all patients who require modifications from the Pharmaceutical/Biotech companies in order to cope with the additional aspects of personalised medicine.
Consequently, pharma companies are collaborating and creating dedicated divisions to further develop equipment and medicine specifically for diabetes, leaving a higher demand for appropriately trained staff to fill these vacancies.
However, there is a lack of suitable training programs available to graduates who could fill these roles, which is why Clinical Professionals set up the Training Academy.
Clinical Professionals’ CEO Yvette Cleland commented on the matter.
“As more and more breakthroughs in the prevention and treatment of Diabetes are discovered it is essential that the great work conducted in this critical area continues. Clinical Professionals is dedicated to clinical drug research and has recently fully funded programs for Graduates within the UK to gain entry level roles into clinical drug development. These highly skilled graduates will bring a cost effective solution to the escalating costs of research for which the many individuals finding themselves newly diagnosed with Diabetes have the comfort of knowing that continued research is both affordable and identifying new treatment and prevention regimes will continue and impact in a positive way their quality of life.”
Because of this Academy, Clinical Professionals will be attending the Diabetes Professional Care Exhibition on the 11th – 12th November at the Barbican Exhibition Centre London.
The conference aims to deliver the latest information and discussion relating to diabetes to aid healthcare professionals and scientists to focus their approach for the prevention and management of the disease. It will feature a variety of talks and workshops ranging from the latest technological developments due to aiding social awareness of diabetes.
If you would like to talk to us more about our Training Academy you can find us at Stand 221, or contact Michael Spiers on michael@clinicalprofessionals.co.uk or 07557047380.
For more information about the Training Academy please click the link below or email academy@clinicalprofessionals.eu
All statistics relating to diabetes were kindly provided by Diabetes UK, more information can be found in their latest report
