Drugmakers 'not doing everything that they could' to widen global access, new report finds

In an article for Endpoint News, Max Bayer covers the release of the new Access to Medicine Index, reporting on the three key findings from the report on the activities of large pharmaceutical companies, featuring interviews from the Access to Medicine Foundation’s CEO, Jayasree K. Iyer, and Director of Research, Claudia Martínez.

The article reports on the 2024 Index’s three key findings, which dive into pharmaceutical company access-to-medicine strategies, namely, licensing and technology transfers, clinical trials and inclusive business models.

Claudia Martínez, Director of Research at the Access to Medicine Foundation, spoke to Max about the potential of these agreements to build local capacity in low- and middle-income countries, noting that while these strategies are well-known to be effective, such activities decreased during the report’s period of analysis.

“When we do see this regression in terms of voluntary licensing and less activities in this space, that means that we’re missing out on the huge potential that companies have to actually improve regional availability of some of these very important products,” the article quoted Claudia.

The article also highlights the 2024 Index’s new company rankings, with Novartis taking the top spot, while noting that despite isolated improvements, the pharmaceutical industry as a whole is displaying a loss of momentum since the previous Index.

“Companies are generally not … doing everything that they could do to reach people in low- and middle-income countries,” the article quoted the Foundation’s CEO Jayasree K. Iyer.