2023 Annual Report showcases Foundation’s widening impact

Across the year, the Foundation committed to broadening stakeholder engagement and driving action from companies to enhance the availability and affordability of essential medicines in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). By organising roundtable discussions and investor briefings, we facilitated solution-oriented conversations on topics including diabetes care and antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

We also saw companies take steps to expand access to medicine using the Foundation’s work. Pfizer, for example, expanded its ‘Accord for a Healthier World’ product offering to include its full portfolio in 45 lower-income countries, and Sanofi stated that the Foundation helped drive change in its access planning. The company cited its Opportunities identified in the Access to Medicine Index as being instrumental in its agreement with Ghana’s government to provide healthcare authorities in the country with affordable analogue insulin products.

2023 also saw the Foundation embark on pioneering research in areas such as generic medicines. A significant milestone was the introduction of a first-of-its-kind analytical framework to assess what generic and biosimilar medicine manufacturers are doing to expand access to essential healthcare products in LMICs, followed by a report profiling the actions of five major companies in this sector.

Additionally, the Foundation's Medical Oxygen Programme debuted its inaugural report, alongside the publication of new research in our AMR Programme. Consultations on the Methodology for the 2024 Access to Medicine Index also led to the launch of a new Methodology in October.

Extensive stakeholder engagement and preparing for the upcoming Index

In 2023, the Foundation sought to activate the research findings of the latest Access to Medicine Index by engaging with senior figures at companies, as well as leading investors and policymakers, to drive change. This included Learning & Evaluation (L&E) sessions held at the start of the year, where representatives from all 20 assessed companies explored specific opportunities outlined in the 2022 Access to Medicine Index. Active engagement by investors also ensured that the changemaking momentum generated by the Index continued across the year. Over 112 investors participated in one or more of the 19 Investor Briefings delivered by the Foundation. Additionally, outreach efforts expanded to investors outside of Europe, as demonstrated by the Tokyo side event focusing on strategic access to medicine globally.

To keep the Access to Medicine Index focused on the most important issues in evaluating companies’ efforts to improve access to their products, we launched the Methodology for the 2024 Access to Medicine Index, based on extensive review and more than 100 consultations with global health experts. This process engaged a higher number of stakeholders from LMICs compared to the previous Methodology's consultation process to better ensure their perspectives were included. The 2024 Access to Medicine Index will have a heightened emphasis on measuring patient reach, providing deeper insights into how companies’ efforts are ensuring their products reach the patients who need them in LMICs.  

Sharing research and expertise to tackle AMR  

The Foundation’s AMR Programme delivered two major publications in 2023: the first a report on companies’ efforts to manufacture antibiotics responsibly, and the second a progress update on whether – and how – companies have seized the Opportunities highlighted in their 2021 AMR Benchmark Report Cards. The publication of these reports provided the Foundation with renewed opportunities to advance ongoing conversations on the importance of curbing AMR, with findings from the report on responsible manufacturing gaining significant traction through media coverage in Express Pharma, ESG Investor and the Hindu Businessline.

The Foundation has become a go-to source of expertise on AMR, providing inputs to critical initiatives related to AMR and global access issues. Among other important events in 2023, the Foundation participated in the annual Global AMR R&D Hub stakeholders meeting in Berlin in October and was invited to join the inaugural AMR Multistakeholder Partnership Platform meeting in Rome in November, which was launched by the Quadripartite organisations in 2023. The Foundation also provided input and data to the UK’s Department for Health and Social Care for its new AMR National Plan 2024-2029.

Bringing attention to generic medicine manufacturers' role in global health

Recognising the critical role of generic and biosimilar manufacturers in ensuring global access to quality-assured medicines, the Foundation published the first-ever analytical framework for these companies in February 2023. Crafted after engaging with over 70 stakeholders from across the global health ecosystem, the Analytical Framework garnered attention from the media, industry, and other stakeholders, who acknowledged it as a significant step in the generics space. Furthermore, it served as the foundation for a pioneering assessment of five generics companies published in September 2023.

In May, the Foundation and the World Economic Forum organised a dialogue along the sidelines of the 76th World Health Assembly in Geneva to address the generics and biosimilars industry's role in global medicine access. The session involved nearly 60 high-level participants, including CEOs, experts, and policymakers, with representation from LMIC-based manufacturers and regulators.

Advancing research and fostering collaboration to improve access to medical oxygen

In April, we published the first research report from our newly established Medical Oxygen Programme, which investigates what medical gas companies are doing to improve access to medical oxygen in LMICs.  This work builds on our active engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic, aiming to mobilise key players in the medical oxygen ecosystem to address chronic shortages of this lifesaving intervention.

The Foundation remained deeply engaged in the medical oxygen space as an independent member of the Global Oxygen Alliance (GO2AL) and through participation in high-profile platforms like the World Health Assembly and the 2nd Global Forum on Childhood Pneumonia, allowing us to highlight our research and findings to major stakeholders. Additionally, our CEO, Jayasree K. Iyer, serves as an advisor to the Lancet Commission on Medical Oxygen.

Working towards scalable solutions for people living with diabetes in LMICs

Throughout the year, the Diabetes Care Programme prioritised sharing findings from the October 2022 research report and insights from engagements with stakeholders more widely. These efforts aimed to ensure that potential solutions and strategies for expanding access to insulin, commodities, and monitoring devices for people in LMICs reached stakeholders capable of making an impact— ranging from policymakers and companies to the public.

We saw progress as a result of this work in the diabetes space, for example, with Eli Lilly announcing a partnership with generics maker EVA to boost insulin access in Africa and Bangladesh. This advancement was based on an opportunity highlighted by the Foundation whereby Eli Lily could expand registration of medicines – specifically analogue insulins.