E-DRUG: Response by MSF to outcome of WHO negotiations on medical R&D
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On 26-28 November 2012, countries were meeting at the World Health
Organization (WHO) to address the failings of the medical R&D system and
discuss the conclusions of a 2012 report by a WHO-hosted group of
independent experts, which provided a blueprint for action. This included
establishing mechanisms for determining which are the most pressing medical
needs and priorities, coordinating R&D efforts, securing sustainable
financing for R&D, and establishing a R&D Convention that could provide a
framework to support the integration of these different elements.
Medecins Sans Frontieres responds to the outcome of the meeting with the
below quote:
"Instead of pushing forward with a real plan to address the continued lack
of suitable and affordable vaccines, drugs and diagnostics that our teams
in the field face, all countries have really pledged to do is to continue
observing the situation. Countries have substituted process for progress.
After ten years of intergovernmental negotiations and several landmark
expert reports with concrete proposals on how to fix a R&D system that
fails to deliver, this is a triumph of political foot-dragging and lack of
leadership.
There is a complete disconnect between the recognition of the scale and
urgency of the problem, which is widely shared, and the fact there are
proposals for transformative change that have been pushed back for another
four years."
- Michelle Childs, Director of Policy Advocacy, MSF Access Campaign
Joanna Keenan
Press Officer
Medecins Sans Frontieres - Access Campaign
E: joanna.keenan[at]geneva.msf.org
T: twitter.com/joanna_keenan
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