Editorial: Anti-inflammatory drug development focusing on immune mediated diseases

Abstract

Editorial on the Research Topic Anti-inflammatory drug development focusing on immune mediated diseasesInflammatory diseases are distributed worldwide, affecting approximately 5% of the world population (Bieber et al., 2023). Among these the inflammatory diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes mellitus, systemic lupus erythematosus, multiple sclerosis, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, psoriasis, and myasthenia gravis are prominent ones. The ever-increasing number of senior citizens (age >60 years) across the globe and the advent of newer and better diagnostic tools for immune-mediated diseases has produced an increase in the incidence of inflammatory diseases. While the general population grew from one billion in the year 1800 to eight billion at present, and it is estimated that by 2030 one in six people in world will be aged sixty or older (Bolkan et al., 2023; Pereira et al., 2023). In addition to this, studies suggest that there is an increased risk of developing immunemediated diseases to the individuals who got SARS-CoV-2 infections (Kim et al., 2024). Despite the great advances in the treatment of these medical conditions in recent past, many patients suffer with serious conditions of the disease for a long time. This situation demands constant research, to identify new drugs, with more specific targets and fewer side effects to treat inflammatory diseases (Wang et al., 2015).In Brazil, despite the guarantee of free access to medicines through the Unified Health System for all citizens as a constitutional right, immune-mediated diseases represent a significant challenge. This is due to its complexity and the lack of adequate resources for early diagnosis and effective treatment. For example, one of the main obstacles to the accurate diagnosis of rheumatological diseases in Brazil is the shortage of specialized professionals. Recent data indicates that 53.3% of the all the rheumatologists in the country live in the capitals of state in the southeast region; 16.8% live in the very populous northeast region, while only 4.1% of medical professionals reside in the north region. This data represents the heterogeneity in the territorial distribution of professionals in Brazil, a developing country. Furthermore, the lack of adequate medical training for those who work in primary care can lead to diagnostic errors or delays in referral to specialists, which ends up worsening the health condition, with irreversible damage to patients (BRAZIL, 2021;Scheffer et al., 2023). The same kind of situation is prevalent in almost all the developing or underdeveloped countries where most of the advance medical facilities are concentrated to