PhRMA announces drug research for US Hispanics

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) has announced that its members "are currently developing 581 medicines to treat diseases that disproportionately affect Hispanic Americans."

PhRMA president Billy Tauzin said: "America's pharmaceutical research companies are actively working to find treatments and cures for the more than 42.7 million Hispanic Americans, the largest minority group in the USA." Mr Tauzin noted that Hispanic Americans have a recognized increased risk for certain conditions and are disproportionately likely to lack access to health care. He said that the Partnership for Prescription Assistance program is one avenue that PhRMA members have opened to address this problem.

Meanwhile, research conducted on behalf of the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and Medicare, part of the Henry J Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), has found that recent demographic trends in the USA mean that newly arrived Hispanic Americans are spreading across the country, rather than remaining in certain urban areas. As a result, although they generally have a similar proportion who lack health insurance in different parts of the USA, only half of those who live in new growth communities are within 10 miles of a community health center, compared with 82% of Hispanic Americans who live in major urban areas.