Improvements in Health/Longevity (General)
 

• U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Electronic Orange Book: Approved Drug Products With Therapeutic Evaluations. July 2010. Annotation: Identifies drug products approved on the basis of safety and effectiveness by the FDA under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. 

• The Lasker Foundation. Pharmaceutical Innovation, Mortality Reduction, and Economic Growth. December 2-3, 2009. Annotation: An econometric investigation of whether the increase in longevity can be explained by a certain kind of technological progress. 

• Research! America. Investment in Prevention and Public Health Research Saves Lives and Money. 2010. Annotation: A fact sheet on the benefits of research on preventative health. 

• Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). 2011. Industry Profile. 2009. Annotation: Includes discussions on the life-saving value of medicines and new drugs in development; provides the most recent data on the pharmaceutical industry’s investment in R&D. 

• Lichtenberg, Frank R. 1996. Do (More and Better) Drugs Keep People out of Hospitals? American Economic Review 86: 384-388. Annotation: The Article provides and econometric analysis of the effect of changes in quantity and type of pharmaceuticals prescribed by physicians on hospitalization, surgical procedure, mortality, and related variables. Article available on a paid basis: http://www.jstor.org/pss/2118157 

• Manton, Kenneth, Larry Corder, and Eric Stallard. 1997. Monitoring Changes in the Health of the US Elderly Population: Correlates with Biomedical Research and Clinical Innovations. The FASEB Journal 11, no. 12 (October). Annotation: Biomedical research has had tremendous positive effects on the health and day-to-day functioning of the U.S. population. These effects on the health of the U.S. elderly population are demonstrated in a number of ways. 

• Manton, Kenneth G., Xi-Liang Gua, Gene Lowrimorea, Arthur Ullianb, and H. Dennis Tolleyc. 2009. NIH Funding Trajectories and their Correlations with US Health Dynamics from 1950 to 2004. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106, no. 27 (July 7).Annotation: An article on research contributions to reduced mortality.

• The National Institutes of Health (NIH). Research Matters. August 16, 2010. Annotation: This website provides regularly updated stories of research successes. 
  
  
• The National Institutes of Health (NIH). Research Results for the Public. January 28, 2010.
  
  
• The National Institutes of Health (NIH). Turning Discovery into Health. May 18, 2010. Annotation: Describes some of the scientific progress that has resulted from the NIH’s funding of research. It is grouped by types of disease, technology and preventative health.

Improvements in Health/Longevity (Specific Conditions)
 

• Biotechnology Industry Organization. Biotechnology’s Impact on Disease of the Elderly: A White Paper. September 2010. Annotation: Describes the costs of eight age-related illnesses and also examines some of the biotech medicines on the market and in development to treat the diseases and details their impact on patients’ quality of life and health-care expenditures.  

• Lichtenberg, Frank R., 2010. “Are Increasing 5-Year Survival Rates Evidence of Success Against Cancer? A Reexamination Using Data from the U.S. and Australia.” Working paper. The National Bureau of Economic Research. Annotation: The authors examine the use of the 5-year cancer survival rate as a tool to measure increased success due to improved prevention, screening, and therapy.

• Lichtenberg, Frank R., 2010. “Has medical innovation reduced cancer mortality?” Working paper. The National Bureau of Economic Research.

• Lichtenberg, Frank R. 2009. International Differences in Cancer Survival Rates: The role of New Drug Launches. International Journal of Healthcare Technology and Management 10, 138-155. Annotation: The paper investigates the effect of availability of new drugs on survival from 17 types of cancer in 38 countries. It finds that an increase in the number of available drugs is associated with an increase in both the one-year and the five-year survival rate. Article available on a paid basis: http://inderscience.metapress.com/link.asp?id=r73388l8527g243l  

• Lichtenberg, Frank R. 2009. The Effect of New Cancer Drug Approvals on the Life Expectancy of American Cancer Patients. Economics of Innovation and New Technology 18: 407-428. Annotation: This study attempts to determine the extent to which new cancer drugs introduced during the last 40 years have prolonged the lives of Americans diagnosed with cancer. Article available on a paid basis: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a913475453