Posts tagged access to medecine

Daniel Berman, deputy director of the MSF Access Campaign, gives our staff a presentation on the Access Campaign’s upcoming vaccine report and his impressions from the World Vaccine Congress held in DC last week.

Daniel Berman, deputy director of the MSF Access Campaign, gives our staff a presentation on the Access Campaign’s upcoming vaccine report and his impressions from the World Vaccine Congress held in DC last week.

Alarming Scale of Multidrug-Resistant TB Requires Rapid Response Alarming new data suggest that the global scope of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is much more vast than previously estimated, requiring a concerted international effort to combat this deadlier form of the disease, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders announced today. “Wherever we look for drug resistant TB we are finding it in alarming numbers, suggesting current statistics may only be scratching the surface of the problem,” said MSF president Dr. Unni Karunakara. “And with 95 percent of TB patients worldwide lacking access to proper diagnosis, efforts to scale up detection of MDR-TB are being severely undermined by a retreat in donor funding— precisely when increased funding is needed most.” Photo: India 2012 © Bithin Das Some of the drugs, part of a long, difficult regimen, that MDR-TB patients must take

Alarming Scale of Multidrug-Resistant TB Requires Rapid Response

Alarming new data suggest that the global scope of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is much more vast than previously estimated, requiring a concerted international effort to combat this deadlier form of the disease, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders announced today.

“Wherever we look for drug resistant TB we are finding it in alarming numbers, suggesting current statistics may only be scratching the surface of the problem,” said MSF president Dr. Unni Karunakara. “And with 95 percent of TB patients worldwide lacking access to proper diagnosis, efforts to scale up detection of MDR-TB are being severely undermined by a retreat in donor funding— precisely when increased funding is needed most.”

Photo: India 2012 © Bithin Das
Some of the drugs, part of a long, difficult regimen, that MDR-TB patients must take

CALL TO PUBLIC ACTION AGAINST NOVARTIS IN NYCNovartis has been attacking India’s patent law for six years, and if it wins, it could change the way drugs are patented in India, which would restrict the production of more affordable generic versions of drugs. Eighty percent of the medicines MSF uses to treat 170,000 people living with HIV in its projects today are sourced from Indian generic drug companies. The case is before India’s Supreme Court – the hearings start on 28th Feb.Now it is time for us to join and support our colleague’s actions here in New York. We will be joining activists from Health GAP on Wednesday to protest Novartis’ case ahead of the company’s shareholder meeting. Where? Novartis Corporation Corporate Communications 230 Park Avenue (between 46th & 45th) New York, NY 10169When? Wednesday, February 22, 2012 - 11:30 AM New York, NYWhat? Join activists to protest the Novartis case.OTHER ACTIONS YOU CAN TAKE:Please sign and share this online petition MSF’s Access Campaign has been in New Delhi working with Indian civil society groups to rally public support against Novartis’ case. Marches and press conferences are being organized in Mumbai near the Novartis India office for the week of February 28 to coincide with the Indian Supreme Court hearing. Health GAP and ACT UP activists will be mobilizing Wednesday in Boston outside Novartis’ US office as well. Photo:India 2007 © MSF

CALL TO PUBLIC ACTION AGAINST NOVARTIS IN NYC

Novartis has been attacking India’s patent law for six years, and if it wins, it could change the way drugs are patented in India, which would restrict the production of more affordable generic versions of drugs. Eighty percent of the medicines MSF uses to treat 170,000 people living with HIV in its projects today are sourced from Indian generic drug companies. The case is before India’s Supreme Court – the hearings start on 28th Feb.

Now it is time for us to join and support our colleague’s actions here in New York. We will be joining activists from Health GAP on Wednesday to protest Novartis’ case ahead of the company’s shareholder meeting.

Where? Novartis Corporation Corporate Communications 230 Park Avenue (between 46th & 45th) New York, NY 10169

When? Wednesday, February 22, 2012 - 11:30 AM New York, NY

What? Join activists to protest the Novartis case.

OTHER ACTIONS YOU CAN TAKE:
Please sign and share this online petition

MSF’s Access Campaign has been in New Delhi working with Indian civil society groups to rally public support against Novartis’ case. Marches and press conferences are being organized in Mumbai near the Novartis India office for the week of February 28 to coincide with the Indian Supreme Court hearing.

Health GAP and ACT UP activists will be mobilizing Wednesday in Boston outside Novartis’ US office as well.

Photo:India 2007 © MSF

HELP AVAAZ GET TO 50,000 SIGNATURES! In days, a multi-billion dollar Swiss pharma company may get the Indian Supreme Court to shut down our supply of affordable medicines. Only we can stop this outrage.PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION! Novartis is suing [the Indian] government so it can squeeze more profits from the sick and needy. If Novartis wins, it will threaten Indian companies’ ability to produce low-cost medicines for malaria, AIDS, cancer and other life-threatening diseases, depriving millions around the world of the treatments they desperately need and threatening thousands of Indian jobs. But people power can push Novartis to drop the suit before the final ruling. Learn more.

HELP AVAAZ GET TO 50,000 SIGNATURES!

In days, a multi-billion dollar Swiss pharma company may get the Indian Supreme Court to shut down our supply of affordable medicines. Only we can stop this outrage.

PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION!

Novartis is suing [the Indian] government so it can squeeze more profits from the sick and needy. If Novartis wins, it will threaten Indian companies’ ability to produce low-cost medicines for malaria, AIDS, cancer and other life-threatening diseases, depriving millions around the world of the treatments they desperately need and threatening thousands of Indian jobs. But people power can push Novartis to drop the suit before the final ruling. Learn more.

KILLING THOUSANDS TO MAKE MILLIONS In days, a multi-billion dollar Swiss pharma company may get the Indian Supreme Court to shut down our supply of affordable medicines. Only we can stop this outrage. PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION! Novartis is suing [the Indian] government so it can squeeze more profits from the sick and needy. If Novartis wins, it will threaten Indian companies’ ability to produce low-cost medicines for malaria, AIDS, cancer and other life-threatening diseases, depriving millions around the world of the treatments they desperately need and threatening thousands of Indian jobs. But people power can push Novartis to drop the suit before the final ruling. Learn more.

KILLING THOUSANDS TO MAKE MILLIONS

In days, a multi-billion dollar Swiss pharma company may get the Indian Supreme Court to shut down our supply of affordable medicines. Only we can stop this outrage.

PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION!

Novartis is suing [the Indian] government so it can squeeze more profits from the sick and needy. If Novartis wins, it will threaten Indian companies’ ability to produce low-cost medicines for malaria, AIDS, cancer and other life-threatening diseases, depriving millions around the world of the treatments they desperately need and threatening thousands of Indian jobs. But people power can push Novartis to drop the suit before the final ruling. Learn more.

For six years the drug company Novartis has refused to back down on its legal case to stop the production of affordable generic medicines in India. MSF, with others, continues its resolute opposition to this attack on life-saving medicines that save millions of lives in developing countries.

Watch this one-minute summary of key events leading up to the Supreme Court case in India on 28 February 2012.


Join in on the action and tweet this line:

Help #MSF protect access to affordable meds, tell @Novartis to drop its case vs #India http://ow.ly/8XPoQ #STOPnovartis

For more information about the case and what actions you can take go here.

What’s at stake with the legal case from the pharmaceutical company Novartis in India? Find out in less than 30 seconds with the video above!

For the past 6 years drug giant Novartis has been pursuing a legal case in India that threatens access to life-saving affordable medicines for millions across the developing world.

As the case now opens before the Indian Supreme Court, join MSF & tell Novartis that people matter more than profits.

Join in on the action and tweet this line:

Help #MSF protect access to affordable meds, tell @Novartis to drop its case vs #India http://ow.ly/8XPoQ #STOPnovartis

For more information about the case and what actions you can take go here.

A majority of the drugs used by the American government’s PEPFAR HIV treatment program in Africa are from India. Anything that stifles the Indian ability to produce affordable HIV drugs will also affect the American program to create an AIDS-free generation. They will have to rely on expensive patented drugs, which means treating fewer patients.

Leena Menghaney, representative of Doctors Without Borders in India, quoted in The Washington Post’s coverage of the ambitious free-trade agreement being negotiated between India and the European Union that could severely curtail India’s production and export of affordable drugs for millions living with HIV in developing countries.

For more coverage on the negotiations in India click here.

EU-India Trade Deal Could Cut Medicines Lifeline for People in Developing Countries Nearly 2,000 People Living with HIV Rally in Streets of Delhi as EU-India Summit Starts As India and the European Union (EU) meet for a summit in New Delhi today to iron out the differences over a FreeTrade Agreement (FTA), nearly two thousand people living with HIV and the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders protested in the streets of the Indian capital to warn that remaining harmful provisions in the agreement could have a severely negative impact on access to affordable medicine for people in developing countries. Go here to check out more about the situation and rally in India. Photo: India 2012 © Syddharth Singh

EU-India Trade Deal Could Cut Medicines Lifeline for People in Developing Countries

Nearly 2,000 People Living with HIV Rally in Streets of Delhi as EU-India Summit Starts


As India and the European Union (EU) meet for a summit in New Delhi today to iron out the differences over a FreeTrade Agreement (FTA), nearly two thousand people living with HIV and the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders protested in the streets of the Indian capital to warn that remaining harmful provisions in the agreement could have a severely negative impact on access to affordable medicine for people in developing countries.


Go here to check out more about the situation and rally in India.

Photo: India 2012 © Syddharth Singh

Demonstrators in Delhi, India, protest against proposed provisions for a free-trade agreement between India and the EU that would limit access to lifesaving generic medicines in the developing world. MSF spoke out for neglected patients in 2011 by waging campaigns for better practices around childhood malnutrition, for greater access to medicines for those who need them most, for the medical needs that exist in ever-expanding slums, and more. Photo: India © Rico Gustva/APN+

Demonstrators in Delhi, India, protest against proposed provisions for a free-trade agreement between India and the EU that would limit access to lifesaving generic medicines in the developing world.

MSF spoke out for neglected patients in 2011 by waging campaigns for better practices around childhood malnutrition, for greater access to medicines for those who need them most, for the medical needs that exist in ever-expanding slums, and more.

Photo: India © Rico Gustva/APN+

Access to Essential Medicines: Ten Stories That Mattered in 2011 8. Stuck in The Middle: Drug Companies Push Up Prices for Patients in Middle-Income Countries People living with HIV in middle-income countries like India, Brazil or Thailand are facing huge hikes in the costs of AIDS medicines—at a time when the pharmaceutical industry sees these countries as potentially lucrative markets for high-priced drugs, and “blockbuster” drugs go off-patent in wealthy countries. This year, a number of drug companies confirmed an ongoing trend by refusing to extend standardized price discounts to middle-income countries—something which was previously routine practice. ViiV, Merck, Johnson & Johnson, and Abbott all now specifically exclude middle-income countries from standardized price discounts for some or all of their drugs. Countries are thus forced to negotiate on a case-by-case basis, which is likely to lead to higher prices. This move ignores the fact that the majority of people in middle-income countries can’t afford to pay high prices for medicines. To add to the problem, these countries are now losing the support from global health mechanisms like the Global Fund. Photo: India 2009 © Sami Siva

Access to Essential Medicines: Ten Stories That Mattered in 2011

8. Stuck in The Middle: Drug Companies Push Up Prices for Patients in Middle-Income Countries

People living with HIV in middle-income countries like India, Brazil or Thailand are facing huge hikes in the costs of AIDS medicines—at a time when the pharmaceutical industry sees these countries as potentially lucrative markets for high-priced drugs, and “blockbuster” drugs go off-patent in wealthy countries.

This year, a number of drug companies confirmed an ongoing trend by refusing to extend standardized price discounts to middle-income countries—something which was previously routine practice. ViiV, Merck, Johnson & Johnson, and Abbott all now specifically exclude middle-income countries from standardized price discounts for some or all of their drugs. Countries are thus forced to negotiate on a case-by-case basis, which is likely to lead to higher prices.

This move ignores the fact that the majority of people in middle-income countries can’t afford to pay high prices for medicines. To add to the problem, these countries are now losing the support from global health mechanisms like the Global Fund.

Photo: India 2009 © Sami Siva

Access to Essential Medicines: Ten Stories That Mattered in 2011 6. An Experimental Scheme to Subsidize Malaria Treatment Gets Off to a Shaky Start Cost is the main reason why many people in Africa aren’t buying a more effective treatment now available for malaria. But a scheme set up to address the issue doesn’t seem to be delivering all the right results. The World Health Organization first stated that medicines based on artemisinin—ACTs—should be used to treat malaria back in 2001, after studies showed widespread resistance had developed to the older drugs, such as choloroquine. However, the newer recommended drugs are considerably more expensive. Public hospitals and clinics throughout Africa now provide the medicines, but these services are not accessible enough everywhere. Many people therefore buy their medicines themselves, often resorting to the cheaper, older drugs that are no longer effective. So the aim of the Affordable Medicines Facility-malaria (AMFm), was to subsidize the prices of ACTs in the private sector where many people get their medicines: in shops and private pharmacies. Photo: Mali 2009 © Barbara Sigge/MSF

Access to Essential Medicines: Ten Stories That Mattered in 2011

6. An Experimental Scheme to Subsidize Malaria Treatment Gets Off to a Shaky Start

Cost is the main reason why many people in Africa aren’t buying a more effective treatment now available for malaria. But a scheme set up to address the issue doesn’t seem to be delivering all the right results.

The World Health Organization first stated that medicines based on artemisinin—ACTs—should be used to treat malaria back in 2001, after studies showed widespread resistance had developed to the older drugs, such as choloroquine.

However, the newer recommended drugs are considerably more expensive. Public hospitals and clinics throughout Africa now provide the medicines, but these services are not accessible enough everywhere. Many people therefore buy their medicines themselves, often resorting to the cheaper, older drugs that are no longer effective.

So the aim of the Affordable Medicines Facility-malaria (AMFm), was to subsidize the prices of ACTs in the private sector where many people get their medicines: in shops and private pharmacies.

Photo: Mali 2009 © Barbara Sigge/MSF

Access to Essential Medicines: Ten Stories That Mattered in 2011 5. Turning the Screws on Affordable Medicines Produced in India India’s role as the “pharmacy of the developing world” is once more under fire this year from both governments and multinational drug companies. Five years after the drug company Novartis first tried to get a critical part of India’s pro-health patent law thrown out, the company is back for the final round of its legal battle against the Indian government—this time in the Supreme Court. If Novartis is successful, India will be forced to grant far more patents on medicines than they currently do, blocking the production of more affordable versions of medicines patented elsewhere, and so keeping newer drugs out of reach of those who need them the most. Photo: Belgium 2010 © Bruno de Cock/MSF

Access to Essential Medicines: Ten Stories That Mattered in 2011

5. Turning the Screws on Affordable Medicines Produced in India

India’s role as the “pharmacy of the developing world” is once more under fire this year from both governments and multinational drug companies.

Five years after the drug company Novartis first tried to get a critical part of India’s pro-health patent law thrown out, the company is back for the final round of its legal battle against the Indian government—this time in the Supreme Court.

If Novartis is successful, India will be forced to grant far more patents on medicines than they currently do, blocking the production of more affordable versions of medicines patented elsewhere, and so keeping newer drugs out of reach of those who need them the most.

Photo: Belgium 2010 © Bruno de Cock/MSF

Access to Essential Medicines: Ten Stories That Mattered in 2011 4. Numbers of Patients on Treatment for Drug-Resistant TB Remains Catastrophically Low Governments are not meeting the challenge of providing treatment for the rising numbers of people infected with drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB), which has infected around five million people over the past ten years. DR-TB—which occurs when the TB bacterium becomes resistant to anti-TB drugs—can be cured in the majority of cases, but many people go undiagnosed and untreated because of the difficulties involved in getting a correct diagnosis, and the expensive and complex treatment. In what many hope will prove to be a breakthrough development, a new diagnostic test has been rolled out this year—including by MSF in seven countries—that can drastically reduce the time it takes to diagnose DR-TB, from several weeks to under two hours. Although the test is very expensive and is not as simple a test as is ultimately needed, the fact that it’s now a lot easier to diagnose people should spur governments into putting many more on treatment. Photo: Armenia 2010 © Bruno De Cock/MSF

Access to Essential Medicines: Ten Stories That Mattered in 2011

4. Numbers of Patients on Treatment for Drug-Resistant TB Remains Catastrophically Low

Governments are not meeting the challenge of providing treatment for the rising numbers of people infected with drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB), which has infected around five million people over the past ten years.

DR-TB—which occurs when the TB bacterium becomes resistant to anti-TB drugs—can be cured in the majority of cases, but many people go undiagnosed and untreated because of the difficulties involved in getting a correct diagnosis, and the expensive and complex treatment.

In what many hope will prove to be a breakthrough development, a new diagnostic test has been rolled out this year—including by MSF in seven countries—that can drastically reduce the time it takes to diagnose DR-TB, from several weeks to under two hours. Although the test is very expensive and is not as simple a test as is ultimately needed, the fact that it’s now a lot easier to diagnose people should spur governments into putting many more on treatment.

Photo: Armenia 2010 © Bruno De Cock/MSF

Access to Essential Medicines: Ten Stories That Mattered in 2011 3. Progress in the Fight Against HIV, TB, and Malaria Under Threat as Health Funding Falters Donor support to fight diseases that hit the poor hardest has been waning for a while, but the announcement by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria in November that it was cancelling its annual funding round because donors had not paid up was nonetheless a shock. Countries will now have to wait until 2014—at the earliest—before they can receive new funds to put more people on treatment for HIV or drug-resistant TB, or roll out diagnostic tests for malaria, for example. The Fund has put a stop-gap solution in place that can prevent treatment interruptions in the meantime, but it’s one that leaves countries hanging on the thinnest of lifelines. Photo: South Africa 2011 © Samantha Reinders

Access to Essential Medicines: Ten Stories That Mattered in 2011

3. Progress in the Fight Against HIV, TB, and Malaria Under Threat as Health Funding Falters

Donor support to fight diseases that hit the poor hardest has been waning for a while, but the announcement by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria in November that it was cancelling its annual funding round because donors had not paid up was nonetheless a shock.

Countries will now have to wait until 2014—at the earliest—before they can receive new funds to put more people on treatment for HIV or drug-resistant TB, or roll out diagnostic tests for malaria, for example. The Fund has put a stop-gap solution in place that can prevent treatment interruptions in the meantime, but it’s one that leaves countries hanging on the thinnest of lifelines.

Photo: South Africa 2011 © Samantha Reinders