title: Therapeutic significance of the drug lag.
abstract: This study evaluates the therapeutic significance of those drugs commercially available in foreign countries but not in the United States at the end of 1976. Of 198 drugs reviewed, 14% offered a potential therapeutic advance while 75% appeared to offer little or no advance. Another 10.5% could not be properly evaluated. Division by therapeutic class showed some groups to be disproportionate to the overall percentages. The cardiovascular group had a higher-than-average ratio of drugs that offered major advances, 23%. On the other extreme was the CNS group, for which a review of 37 drugs showed no drugs to represent a major advance. It is concluded that few "breakthrough" drugs in general use in other countries are being kept out of the United States drug market.
mesh_terms: D004341:Drug Evaluation; D004345:Drug Industry; D005060:Europe; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D007564:Japan; D007880:Legislation, Drug; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D014481:United States; D014486:United States Food and Drug Administration
chemical_list: D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations