Novartis and Biogen launch drug access programmes in developing countries
pharmafile | October 15, 2015 | News story | Manufacturing and Production, Sales and Marketing | Biogen, Novartis, access, aid, corporate social responsibility, csr, humanitarian aid
Novartis and Biogen have begun new campaigns aimed at increasing access to medicines in developing countries.
The Swiss firm has launched the Novartis Access programme to provide treatments for several conditions to patients in Kenya, while Biogen has kicked off a collaboration with the World Federation of Haemophilia to provide haemophilia therapies to several low-income countries.
Some 28 million people die from chronic diseases in low- and middle-income countries each year, representing 75% of such deaths globally.
Novartis is taking the Access programme to Kenya, which will be the first country to benefit from a portfolio of 15 affordable medicines to treat cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, respiratory illnesses, and breast cancer.
In Kenya, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) account for 27% of deaths, or almost 100,000 people per year. By 2030, NCDs are expected to contribute to more than 60% of the total national mortality, figures which led the Kenyan government to launch a new strategy for the prevention, control and management of NCDs this July.
The Novartis portfolio is being offered to the Kenyan government, NGOs and other public-sector healthcare providers for US$1 per treatment, per month. It includes both patented and generic Novartis medicines, selected based on the WHO Essential Medicines List, and are among the most commonly-prescribed medicines.
Novartis intends to follow the launch of Access in Kenya with additional launches in Ethiopia and Vietnam, working towards a target of 30 countries in total, as demand requires. The company is confident that this approach will be commercially sustainable long-term, enabling continuous support in those regions.
“Novartis and Kenya have a relationship of more than 40 years, so I am delighted that Kenyan patients will be the first to benefit from Novartis Access,” says Joerg Reinhardt, chairman of the board of novartis. “The successful implementation of the program in Kenya will be essential to guide the expansion of Novartis Access to other countries in the future.”
In conjunction with the launch of the access portfolio and to support effective treatment of chronic diseases in Kenya, Novartis will partner with the Kenyan Ministry of Health, the Kenyan Red Cross, the Kenyan Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB), the Christian Health Association of Kenya (CHAK), Management Sciences for Health (MSH) and other key stakeholders.
Biogen partners with WFH
Elsewhere, Biogen’s partnership with the Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB (Sobi) and the World Federation of Hemophilia (WFH) has seen the first shipments of haemophilia medication arrive in treatment centres around the developing world.
These shipments are part of the largest humanitarian aid pledge of its kind to help people with haemophilia in developing countries.
The donation will provide up to 500 million units of haemophilia therapy over five years to the WFH and represents a significant contribution to the expansion of their Humanitarian Aid Program, a 20-year old initiative dedicated to providing treatment and care for people with haemophilia in the developing world.
According to the WFH, an estimated 400,000 people worldwide have haemophilia and of these, more than 300,000 individuals live in areas where there is limited access to diagnosis and treatment.
The new initiative is the first phase of Biogen and Sobi’s ten-year commitment to produce one billion International Units of haemophilia therapy for humanitarian use. The first countries to benefit will be Senegal, Kenya, Philippines, Dominican Republic, Uzbekistan, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Pakistan, El Salvador, Indonesia, Ghana, Myanmar, India, Sri Lanka and Nigeria.
“The majority of people with haemophilia in developing countries do not live past adulthood and if they do, they face a life of severe disability and chronic pain,” says Assad Haffar, WFH humanitarian aid program director. “The lack of access to clotting factor concentrates in these countries presents an urgent and important public health challenge.”
He adds: “By expanding the WFH humanitarian aid program through larger and more predictable donations, we may now be in a position to create a foundation for more sustainable and improved care in parts of the world where there is an urgent need,” said WFH president Alain Weill.
Joel Levy
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