23/01/2019

BY WILLIAM NEW, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY WATCH

As the World Health Organization Executive Board gathers tomorrow for its annual January meeting, health industry and advocacy groups have seized on a WHO report to be presented to the Board that finds high prices for cancer  medicines are “impairing” governments’ ability to provide affordable treatments. One issue they may have in common is a desire for more transparency in analyses of prices.

High prices for cancer medicines are “impairing the capacity of health care systems to provide affordable, population wide access,” the report found, adding that cancer drug prices exceed those of medicines used for treating other major diseases, with costs growing at a faster rate.

The full report, “Medicines, vaccines and health products; Cancer Medicines,” and more information on the WHO website is available here:

<https://www.who.int/medicines/areas/access/Improving-affordability-effectiveness-of-cancer-medicines/en/> [pdf].

The report will be on the agenda at the Executive Board meeting being held from 24 January to 1 February

<https://www.who.int/news-room/events/detail/2019/01/24/default-calendar/144th-session-of-the-who-executive-board>