Science of health

As Professor Phil Hanlon points out in his analysis, “We ought to focus on healthy old age, not just a long life” (27 March) modern healthcare from prevention to treatment is contributing to the fact that more children born today will live beyond their hundredth birthday than ever before.

Arguably one of the single biggest contributory factors has been the development of medicines for life-threatening conditions where no effective treatment existed before.

Conditions such as diabetes, stomach ulcers, high blood pressure and influenza are no longer as feared as before because of medicines and vaccines that have become available to patients over the past decades.

Scottish teams have often played, and continue to play, a proud role in discovering and developing innovative medicines for patients across the globe. Increasingly, modern medicines and vaccines are taken for granted. Whether by accident or design, omitting medicines from contributing factors to longer healthy lives doesn’t reflect the feelings of patients and most clinicians, and doesn’t do justice to the thousands of people in Scotland’s health and life sciences sectors working to bring new medicines and vaccine to patients.

If the contribution that medicines make to our industry was fully recognised by society, I believe we could help reduce further the barriers to Scottish patients accessing the most modern and innovative medicines.

Sandra Auld

Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry Scotland

Crichton’s Close

Edinburgh