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2024 Access to Medicine Index finds that pharma companies are missing opportunities to reach more patients in low- and middle-income countries
19 November 2024
Date
20 November 2024
Pharma not doing enough to improve medicines access, report finds
In an article for POLITICO, Giedre Peseckyte writes about the recently published Access to Medicine Index, which assesses the efforts of 20 pharmaceutical companies to improve access to essential medicines in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
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The article begins by reflecting the findings of the index, urging pharmaceutical companies to accelerate their efforts to ensure that medicines reach the underserved populations in LMICs. It stresses the need for greater focus on research and development (R&D), particularly given the concerning underrepresentation of resource-poor populations in clinical trials. It also notes that, while an increasing number of companies are adopting Inclusive Business Models (IBMs), the outcomes of these models are mixed. It is therefore vital that companies adopting IBMs transparently report the progress in implementing these models, particularly the number of patients reached.
“Companies will have to take the ownership if they’re serious about health equity and … want to be known, and want to attract talent in their own companies and be an impactful industry in that sense,” the article quotes Jayasree, CEO of the Access to Medicine Foundation, “You can’t sit back and just wait on that.”
The article also highlights the 2024 Index’s new company rankings, with Novartis risen to claim the top spot, while noting that despite some progress made, there has been a noticeable stagnation in pharma companies’ efforts to improve access to their essential healthcare products across LMICs.