Credit crunch 'affecting medicine'
The credit crunch may have an adverse effect on the development of new drugs and medicines, an expert warns.
Professor David Weild, director of the Innogen Centre and chair of the Genomics and Society: Reinventing life? conference, says that the global financial crisis could delay both the discovery and the production of new medicines - something which may have a long-term effect on families' health insurance choices.
Opening the conference today (October 27th), Professor Weild will say that a drop in investment in biotechnology remains risky and that the current economic crisis is hindering such investment and, therefore, progress in the creation of new medicines.
The development of medication continues to bring relief to people suffering from a range of different ailments. Research released earlier this month revealed that a high-dose influenza vaccine showed stronger immune responses among people aged 65 years or above.
Such a development may help to reduce the risk of contracting influenza, researchers from Sanofi-Aventis, which carried out the study, believe. 
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