What's Ahead for Health in 2006
Experts make predictions for advances in health care in 2006.
By Denise Mann
WebMD Weight Loss Clinic - Feature
Reviewed By Michael W. Smith, MD
From the first-ever cancer vaccine to a new drug set to take on "diabesity," 2006 promises to be chock full of health advances.
That's why WebMD asked thoughtful leaders in many fields to get out their crystal balls and tell us what's in store for 2006.
Bird Flu Fears
"There is a better chance that we will see what we are seeing in Southeast Asia than have a pandemic here, but a pandemic is possible almost at any time," says flu vaccine expert Peter Gross, MD,
chair of internal medicine at Hackensack University Hospital in New Jersey.
The H5N1 bird flu has caused an unprecedented epidemic in poultry and wild birds across Asia.
"We have had the bird flu in the U.S. in the past, but the difference is that it hasn't killed humans to the degree that it has in Asia," he says. So far, the number of deaths from the H5N1 bird flu globally is 71, all in Asia, out of 138 people known to have been infected. Five other people have been confirmed to have contracted the virus in Indonesia but have survived.
"Off and on over the past couple of years, an occasional person dies from a bird flu, but most of them had close contact with infected bird flocks," Gross says. "For a pandemic to occur, there must be a new strain [of the virus] that is capable of human-to-human transmission but so far it has been virtually all bird to human," he says. "It doesn't have the virulence yet to transmit from human to human."
Cancer Vaccine
The new year will likely yield the first vaccine targeted at preventing cancer. The vaccine targets HPV, a common sexually transmitted infection that is the main cause of cervical cancer, says Mary Jane Minkin, MD. Minkin is a clinical professor of obstetrics/genecology at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn.
"I wish I could say everyone practices safe sex, but people get a false sense of security now that there are such effective treatments for HIV /AIDS," she says. "An HPV vaccine will be a wonderful advent," she says.
"Cancer vaccines -- including the cervical cancer vaccine and a potential lung cancer vaccine -- have been brewing for a while. And that may be an area in the coming year in which new developments are being seen," predicts Albert Deisseroth MD, PhD, president and CEO at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center in San Diego.
The new year will also bring other advances in the fight against cancer, including more research into drugs that starve tumors by cutting of their blood supply, he says.
"A third area is therapy selection with genetic tests," he says. "This is a major advance that will affect the decisions that oncologists make for their patients regarding therapy." Such selection can help determine which patients will benefit from which therapies.
The 'Diabesity' Epidemic
"Diabesity" is a new buzzword that refers to "the incredible connection between diabetes and obesity," says Francine Kaufman, MD, head of the Diabetes Center at the Children's Hospital in Los Angeles.
"Of the 90% of people with type 2 diabetes, 85% to 90% are overweight, if not obese," she says.
There will also be advances in drugs to treat diabetes in 2006; namely the approval of Exubera, an inhaled form of insulin, which may help reduce the number of painful insulin shots.
And on the obesity end, a new drug called Acomplia, which cuts appetite and curbs the craving for nicotine, is also expected to gain FDA approval.
"Both agents will add to our ever expanding war chest of agents to treat diabetes and obesity," she says. Make no mistake, "we are at war with diabetes and obesity."
Putting an End to Pain
As the dust from the arthritis drug debacle of 2004-2005 settles, people in pain will find themselves increasingly drawn toward safer, more natural remedies, predicts Jacob Teitelbaum, MD. Teitelbaum is the medical director of the Annapolis Center For Effective CFS/Fibromyalgia (FMS) Therapies in Maryland.
"The reign of Cox-2 inhibitors and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), as we know them, has passed," he tells WebMD. "New medications and natural alternatives that are highly effective and safe will replace them."
Such treatments include numbing Lidocaine patches, herbal mixes, muscle relaxants, and the use of antidepressants for pain.
"Antidepressants don't just affect depression, but they also lower substance P, a pain messenger," he says.
The year 2006 may also spell relief for people with fibromyalgia, a chronic pain illness characterized by widespread musculoskeletal aches, pain and stiffness, soft tissue tenderness, general fatigue, and sleep disturbance, says Lynne Matallana, president and founder of the National Fibromyalgia Association.
"I think that 2006 will see the approval of the first pharmaceutical medication for fibromyalgia." Matallana is betting on a new antidepressant called Milnacipran, which has performed well in trials of fibromyalgia.
Matters of the Heart
Stanley Hazen, MD, PhD, section head of preventive cardiology and rehabilitation at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Ohio, says that 2006 will bring some much-needed changes in the number of people who take medication to lower their blood cholesterol levels.
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