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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 May 2016
Biomedical research is a success by any standard. It has led to treatments and preventive practices that have caused rates of death from the major killers—heart disease, cancer, and stroke—to decline steadily over the past few decades (National Center for Health Statistics, 2002: Table 30). Hundreds of new drugs have been approved over the past decade (U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 2002), and another 1000 potential drugs are under development (Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, 2002). The past year alone has seen breakthroughs in understanding afflictions as diverse as sickle cell anemia, tuberculosis, breast cancer, Alzheimer's disease, depression, and substance abuse.