E-DRUG: Fair Pricing series of articles by WHO and BMJ
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Dear all
The World Health Organization has published a series that was proposed by the WHO and commissioned by The BMJ on the issue of Achieving Fair Pricing. The link to each of the articles can be found at:
https://www.bmj.com/fair-pricing
The description provided by Professor Fatima Suleman and the articles are as follows:
There are many public health problems for which there are no treatments. Drug development pipelines are full but mostly focus on potentially profitable diseases that mainly affect high-income countries. In short, the free market does not effectively provide affordable access to medicines for all. Affordability and innovation can coexist so that patients can sustainably access medicines. However, it is challenging to find agreement on a single definition of fair pricing, and health systems have struggled to achieve a balance between affordability and need. This collection of articles outlines evidence and further research that is needed to balance affordability and innovation of medicines.
Editorial
Can affordability and innovation coexist for medicines?
Improved transparency is essential to determine what is fair writes Allison Colbert et al.
Analysis
Defining the concept of fair pricing for medicines
Suerie Moon and colleagues consider what makes a fair price for both buyers and sellers
Strategies to achieve fairer prices for generic and biosimilar medicines
Early market entry and rapid uptake of quality assured generic and biosimilars are key to improving access to medicines, say Alessandra Ferrario and colleagues
Pricing of pharmaceuticals is becoming a major challenge for health systems
Manufacturers using their market power to maximise profits results in prices that are unjustifiable and unaffordable, argue Steven Morgan and colleagues
New business models for research and development with affordability requirements are needed to achieve fair pricing of medicines
For research and development to systematically deliver fairly priced medicines, new approaches to financing and organisation are needed, and affordability must be integrated into push, pull, and pooling mechanisms, say Fatima Suleman and colleagues
Price transparency is a step towards sustainable access in middle income countries
Tania Cernuschi and colleagues show how information from the Market Information for Access to Vaccines database is strengthening the ability of middle income countries to negotiate with vaccine producers
Prof. F Suleman
Professor: Discipline of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Health Sciences/ Director: World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Pharmaceutical Policy and Evidence Based Practice
College of Health Sciences, Westville Campus, University of KwaZulu-Natal
South Africa
"Laing, Richard" <richardl@bu.edu>