E-DRUG: UNITAID STATEMENT ON WORLD AIDS DAY 2011
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Keep the Momentum on Quality, Innovation and Healthy Markets
Geneva, 1 December, 2011 -UNITAID is committed to building on 10 years
of historic progress in the fight against AIDS and keep the agenda
moving forward to the next level of cost-effective quality care.
Moreover, UNITAID will continue to advocate for markets that work
better to meet public health needs and where trade interests do not
hamper medicines access.
"While it is understandable that in the face of economic restrictions
the immediate reaction is to contain, we need to keep our eye on the
prize," said Philippe Douste-Blazy, Chair of UNITAID. "Ten years of
efforts have brought us to an historic turning point in treating AIDS
in the developing world. We need to keep that momentum - traditional
aid is vital, but we can also implement innovative ways of raising
additional funds. For instance, UNITAID has raised $ 1.3 billion in
five years, but there are other possible mechanisms such as a
financial transaction tax, which could be used to fund HIV/AIDS and
other public health priorities."
Funding, political will, innovation and evidence in the last ten years
have played a vital role in placing six million people living with
HIV/AIDS on treatment and giving hope to millions of others urgently
needing medicines. Global health and development actors have made the
money available stretch further by achieving progressively lower
prices and a sustainable supply of key HIV medicines, including the
development of simplified quality treatments through single pill
fixed-dose combinations for adults and children. Evidence today also
shows that quality-assured, safe and effective treatment can prevent
transmission as well as significantly improve the lives of people
living with HIV. This means that early, effective and quality-assured
treatment is the best value for money proposition we have to curb the
epidemic.
"We need to increase the number of people on treatment and build on
all the progress made on quality," noted Denis Broun, UNITAID
Executive Director. "What we have worked hard to realize for ten years
is becoming a reality today - people in the South are starting to
access the same medicines as people in the North, and what was once a
death sentence is today a chronic, manageable condition. After a
decade of diagnostics being out of reach of developing countries, we
are on the brink of bringing quality, affordable innovative
diagnostics into those markets, making treatment more effective and
timely. Global leaders and others need to capitalize on these
successes by supporting the momentum through steady, sustainable
funding and innovative interventions that work."
UNITAID has worked intensively to promote innovation in medicines -
such as child-friendly formulations; has created a space for more
sophisticated second-line treatments at lower cost, and is now looking
to bring innovative point-of-care tests to developing countries. By
using a market logic, UNITAID has managed to reduce the cost of some
of these products by as much as 80%, prices that are now accessible to
everyone.
"As we continue to reduce costs and introduce innovation into
developing country markets," added Denis Broun, "it is imperative that
larger players such as the Global Fund and PEPFAR are enabled to
continue increasing coverage. Decreasing or flat-lining their activity
due to dwindling funds will undo those hard won victories."
In addition to innovative approaches and funding, it is important that
a policy environment is created to secure markets that work better to
meet public health needs, and that trade interests will not disrupt
public health priorities. For instance, free trade agreements with
India - the largest provider of AIDS medicines to the developing world
- and other initiatives such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)
Agreement - should not include data exclusivity or other conditions
that will have a negative impact on the supply of affordable generic
treatments.
Finally, UNITAID calls on companies holding patents for important
second- and third-line medicines to urgently consider joining the
Medicines Patent Pool. As some people on treatment become resistant to
the first line of defense, the developing world will increasingly need
newer, more robust medicines which will remain patented for a long
time to come. The Medicines Patent Pool was created precisely to
address this challenge and make better patient-adapted,
state-of-the-art medicines available to the poor through a voluntary
patent sharing mechanism.
More on UNITAID www.unitaid.eu <http://www.unitaid.eu/>
Contact: Daniela Bagozzi, UNITAID Communication, Tel. +41 22 791 45
44; Mob. +41 79 475 54 90;
Email bagozzid@who.int