Date
29 September 2023
Generic makers fall short when providing access to low- and middle-income countries, analysis finds
For STAT, Ed Silverman writes about the first report from the Foundation's Generic & Biosimilar Medicines Programme. The article kicks off with a statistic from the report showing that just one of 50 products marketed by the five generic drug companies in scope has a pricing strategy that considers patients' ability to pay. This has huge consequences for those living in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), who often have to pay out of their own pocket.
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The article looks at the potential for generic and biosimilar companies to do so much more to expand access, and how the report identifies where they're falling short.
The Foundation's CEO, Jayasree Iyer, is quoted: “Today, the generics industry focuses mainly still on their domestic market and the U.S. and Europe, while there are many opportunities worldwide. So they are feeling the pressures, too, like the big research-based companies. (These) companies need to go from the transactional tender-based mechanisms and complement that with much more effort to reach underserved populations, and be more transparent about their actions.”
Read the Foundation's report on generic and biosimilar medicine manufacturers.