31 March 2015

April 9: WHO seminar on Access to Medicine Index; BioPharma Sustainability Roundtable

In April, representatives of the Access to Medicine Foundation have been invited to lead a WHO seminar in Geneva and speak at the BioPharma Sustainability Roundtable in Cambridge, USA.

9 April: Jayasree K. Iyer to lead WHO seminar on Access to Medicine Index

The Access to Medicine Index team has been invited to present their 2014 findings in a seminar at the World Health Organisation in Geneva. The seminar will provide WHO technical experts with an opportunity to discuss the 2014 Access to Medicine Index directly with Index researchers. It will be hosted by Kees de Joncheere, Director of the WHO’s Essential Medicines and Health Products department, and is open to all WHO staff. Jayasree K. Iyer, Head of Research at the Access to Medicine Index, will lead the event, supported by Danny Edwards, Lead Researcher. Following the seminar, Jayasree and Danny will meet with WHO specialists to discuss the 2015 Index methodology review and further strengthen the Index framework.

9 April: John Schaetzl to join panel at the BioPharma Sustainability Roundtable

John will be participating in a panel discussion on “The world of sustainability ratings, rankings and benchmarks” in his role as Supervisory Board Chairman to the Access to Medicine Foundation, and alongside representatives of RobecoSAM/DJSI and MSCI.

This is the third annual Biopharma Sustainability Roundtable and will take place in Cambridge, USA, from 8-9 April. It is a two-day invitational gathering of senior executives from the biopharmaceutical industry, and will be hosted at the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR). To register for the event, contact Thomas Scheiwiller ( scheiwiller.thomas@gmail.com ), Roundtable co-organiser and Independent Advisor at Scheiwiller Impacts.

Pharmaceutical companies are implementing a wide variety of relevant initiatives; all involve partners and the majority focus on local capacity building

The ten companies are implementing 28 relevant initiatives in total. All involve partners, such as international organisations, NGOs or governments, and most are either new since 2012 or have been recently expanded. The few R&D initiatives all target the development of heat-stable oxytocin to curb excessive bleeding during childbirth. While this is a high-priority R&D gap for women living in developing countries, significant R&D needs remain unaddressed. 25% of initiatives include action on pricing: seven initiatives, from five companies, mostly relating to contraceptives. 10 initiatives, from 5 companies, are aligned with the core business of the company in question, making them more likely to be sustainable longer term.