[e-drug] WHO PQ now charging application fees

e-drug
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E-DRUG: WHO PQ now charging application fees
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Dear Colleagues,

We received the below note from WHO PQ [pre-qualification] last week; it seems WHO PQ have had
to take the difficult step to start charging applicants for submissions.
While this is clearly being done to help raise additional resources to
support a necessary programme, we hope this won't have a negative impact in
discouraging necessary applications from manufacturers. Ultimately WHO PQ
has and remains an important component of the work of WHO in ensuring
access to life-saving medicines, and the key to its future functioning and
success relies much more on political and sustainable financial support
from member states.

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E-DRUG: WHO PQ now charging application fees (2)
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Hi,
Absolutely no problem with this decision of charging application fee for PQ by WHO. Those who earn profits through their industrial output, should pay for any services they get to market their produce.

Now that WHO has decided to charge a fee for PQ process, it can widen the horizon. Hope WHO will now a go step ahead and also start with PQ of essential medicines so that marginalized and developing economies can utilize these services, if they so wish. This will usher the era of making quality essential medicines available at affordable prices in competitive economic environment.

Prof Dr Vijay Thawani, India
"Vijay Thawani" <vijaythawani@rediffmail.com>

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E-DRUG: WHO PQ now charging application fees (3)
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I completely agree that this pre-qualification program is an essential one and understand the step to move to charging applicants to keep it alive even if it means taking the risk of limiting the supplier base and potentially raising the independency of its review process.

On the other hand I am amazed that such a program, one of the flagships of essential medicines, has not succeeded in mobilizing funds from donors.

It is obvious that so many countries and programs benefit from this pre-qualification program. The Global Fund, for example, pumps annually hundreds of millions in prequalified medicines and does not seem to see an interest in funding the program and authority that it uses as the basis for its own quality policy.

So the fact that even this program does not get sufficiently funded points to the lack of willingness of donors to support this type of programs and/or the lack of capacity of WHO as an organization and its ED program to mobilize funds.

That should make WHO leadership, its board and partners rethink their strategies about essential medicines and fund raising.

Best regards

Rino Guy Meyers
Senior Procurement Adviser
Partnership with The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
HIV, Health and Development Group
Bureau for Development Policy
United Nations Development Programme - Geneva Office
Office: 11-13 Chemin des Anémones, Châtelaine, CH-1219 Geneva, Switzerland
Guy Rino Meyers <guy.rino.meyers@undp.org>