Pharma is only ‘inching forward’ in boosting access to medicines in low-income countries

Ed Silverman for STAT refers to the slow progress reported in the 2021 Access to Medicine Index in broadening access to medicines despite the recent move of eight pharmaceutical companies to integrate access strategies into their R&D pipelines.

He looks at the shortfall in access strategies corresponding to the 20 companies' health products noting that they normally target larger and more profitable markets. In addition, Ed gives an overview of the companies' R&D pipelines and the diseases as well as health gaps in low-income countries addressed by the candidate products.

The article also underlines the access-oriented goals set by all 20 companies and the capacity building initiatives of most of them to strengthen supply chains and local health systems. Yet, it notes that there is still room for improvement in governance of access.

Read the full article here.