For the first time, many of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies are taking concrete steps to widen access to their medicines in low and middle-income countries, but the poorest countries continue to be disproportionately overlooked, according to a new analysis.
All 20 of the drugmakers reviewed now have an access-to-medicine strategy, up from 17 previously, and all but one company has integrated access-to-medicine strategies into their overall corporate strategies. Moreover, 15 companies now have a structured policy in place to create an access plan for each late-stage R&D project in the pipeline, compared to eight drug companies in 2021.
In addition, six drug companies have access plans for all of their late-stage R&D projects, up from zero a year ago. And 77% of late-stage R&D projects are now accompanied by an access plan, compared to 40% in 2021, according to the latest analysis by the Access to Medicine Foundation, an independent nonprofit research organization that evaluates drugmakers and their access plans.
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