Tie WHO essential-medicines listing to a published tiered price and supply pledge
When a cancer drug is added to the WHO essential medicines list, the maker should publicly commit to a low price and reliable supply for poorer countries, or the listing is withheld.
Listing on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines is a reputational asset for manufacturers but carries no obligation. Many listed cancer medicines (trastuzumab, imatinib, rituximab) remained unaffordable or unavailable in most low-income countries for years after listing. The proposal is that the Expert Committee request, as part of the application, a public tiered-price schedule and a minimum supply commitment for low- and lower-middle-income countries, and publish which applicants declined.
- Most of the world has almost no cancer care · Seven in ten cancer deaths happen in low- and middle-income countries, where radiotherapy, pathology, surgery and drugs are scarce.
- Prices and value · New cancer drugs routinely cost over $150,000 a year, often for months of benefit. Systems cannot afford them and patients go bankrupt.
Pages like this
not linked directly; found by shared links- IdeaPooled procurement and voluntary licensing for essential cancer medicines in low-income countries
Shares Imatinib, Trastuzumab, Prices and value, Most of the world has almost no cancer care.
- IdeaPooled international procurement of essential adult cancer medicines
Shares Imatinib, Trastuzumab, Prices and value, Most of the world has almost no cancer care.
- IdeaMedicines Patent Pool licences for every patented cancer drug on the WHO list
Shares Imatinib, Prices and value, Most of the world has almost no cancer care.
- IdeaA joint price negotiation bloc for middle-income countries, modelled on Beneluxa
Shares Prices and value, Most of the world has almost no cancer care.
- IdeaBuy out the patent on a curative cancer drug and sell it at generic prices
Shares Prices and value, Most of the world has almost no cancer care.
- IdeaGrant extra exclusivity only in exchange for binding low prices in poorer countries
Shares Prices and value, Most of the world has almost no cancer care.
- IdeaLimit secondary patents and pay-for-delay so cancer generics arrive on time
Shares Imatinib, Prices and value.
- IdeaBiosimilar-first defaults and payment parity in every cancer day unit
Shares Trastuzumab, Prices and value.