The Methodology for the 2024 Access to Medicine Index

The Methodology for the 2024 Access to Medicine Index is now available to download. As with every new iteration of the Index, the Access to Medicine Foundation has conducted a rigorous review of the previous Methodology, starting with a series of internal checks on indicators, data sets and analytical approaches. The Foundation also interviewed over 100 global health stakeholders in order to refine the Methodology and reach consensus on enhancing and/or updating its metrics.  

The Foundation uses strict standards for deciding when to merge or remove a metric within the analytical framework, with some of the key changes set out below. The scopes of the 2024 Index, and all indicators, including descriptions and rationales for changes, are set out in the 2024 Index Methodology Report. 

Change and continuity in the Index Methodology: 

The 2024 Access to Medicine Index will analyse company behaviour using an analytical framework of 32 indicators (31 in 2022) organised in the same three Technical Areas – Governance of Access, Research and Development, and Product Delivery – which are divided into 15 priority topics (14 in 2022). 

• Enhanced focus on patient reach: Governance of Access includes a new priority topic on measuring and reporting patient reach, with a standalone patient reach indicator to evaluate how companies define, measure and report on patient reach. Product Delivery also has a complementary and expanded focus on how companies are improving the number of patients reached in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) for specific products.   

• 20 companies: The Index will continue to cover 20 of the world’s largest research-based pharmaceutical companies, with the same companies remaining in scope as in 2022. 

• 81 diseases: All diseases, conditions and pathogens that were included in the 2022 Access to Medicine Index scope will remain in scope for the 2024 Index. However, stroke, ischaemic heart disease and hypertensive heart diseases have been grouped into the umbrella category of cardiovascular diseases, reducing the total number of diseases, conditions and pathogens in the disease scope from 83 to 81. 

• 113 LMICs: Five additional countries – Jamaica, Jordan, Lebanon, Marshall Islands and St Lucia – are newly in scope for the next Index. 

The Foundation has now started the process of data collection, verification, scoring and analysis for the ninth iteration of the Access to Medicine Index, slated for publication towards the end of 2024.