Photo credit: ANP foto, Photographer: Nichole Sobecki/VII/Redux 

Released on 19 November 2024, the Access to Medicine Index is available HERE.

Overview 

Every two years, the Access to Medicine Index evaluates 20 of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies according to their efforts to expand access to their products for people living in LMICs, where disparities in the availability and affordability of essential healthcare products remain greatest. The 20 companies assessed in the Index account for over half of global pharmaceutical revenue, with pipelines, portfolios, resources, and global reach that give them the unique capacity to develop and market the innovative health products that people in LMICs need most. 

Key Findings 

The 2024 Index shows an overall stagnation in pharmaceutical companies’ efforts to improve access to their essential healthcare products across LMICs, evidenced by uneven progress across the Technical Areas assessed by the Index. Companies are maintaining comprehensive access-to-medicine strategies and making promising commitments to reach people in LMICs, with some individual companies launching and implementing inclusive business models dedicated to addressing gaps in underserved regions. However, progress in the implementation of these models is still somewhat limited. 

Recommendations 

The report highlights the practical steps that companies should now take to give more people in LMICs the affordable medicines they need – from vaccines against infections to treatments for diabetes and cancer. By following these recommendations, companies and their partners have the power to transform lives and strengthen global health security. 

Role of Partnerships 

Some of these gaps could be addressed through partnerships with organisations like the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP). MPP can play a crucial role by facilitating voluntary licensing and technology transfer to make life-saving therapies more accessible and affordable. 

See Chapter on “Voluntary licensing as a mechanism to broaden access to patented medicines in LMICs” p.65-70 and its key recommendations: 

Licensing is a particularly important mechanism for companies to provide access in countries where they do not intend to commercialise their products. Failure to license priority products means that they will remain inaccessible to most of the world’s population, thus perpetuating the cycle of inequitable access. 

As a first step, it is imperative that pharmaceutical companies prioritise licensing within their strategies, focusing on the essential products that are needed in LMICs. 

    • Companies can use MPP’s priority list as a guide for identifying products for which licensing would have the biggest public health impact. 
    • Alternatively, companies can also choose to engage in licensing for products outside of the MPP framework. To have the most impact, these licences should be transparent and free from terms that unnecessarily restrict access, while including multiple countries with the highest unmet healthcare needs. 
    • Licences should be accompanied by a long-term commitment for licensee management, coordination and support functions to ensure the licence results in the generic medicines reaching those that require them the most. 
    • Given the significant need for NCD treatments in LMICs, companies can focus on working towards licensing these products in their portfolios and should consider collaborating with MPP to facilitate this.

How does Medicine licensing work at MPP?

Conclusion

Since the first Index was released in 2008, the Access to Medicine Foundation has seen progress from the industry, but the pace at which this is taking place is not sufficient to address the growing, unmet healthcare needs across LMICs. The 2024 Index included a more rigorous assessment of how companies measure and report patient reach, looking at whether patients are truly receiving access to companies’ essential healthcare products. Clearer information and data on which products are being delivered to patients – and where – is crucial for developing more effective solutions to overcome persistent access gaps in underserved regions.

Download the Index