Novartis launches affordable medicines portfolio for lower-income countries
pharmafile | September 24, 2015 | News story | Manufacturing and Production, Sales and Marketing | Novartis
Novartis has announced the launch of ‘Novartis Access’, a portfolio of 15 medicines to treat chronic diseases in low and low-middle-income countries, including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, respiratory illnesses, and breast cancer.
The portfolio will be offered to governments, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other public-sector healthcare providers for $1 per treatment, per month. Both patented and generic Novartis medicines will be included.
It will be launched first in Kenya, Ethiopia and Vietnam, before being gradually rolled out to up to 30 countries, depending on demand.
The products included in the product portfolio have been selected based on the World Health Organization’s Essential Medicines List and are among the most commonly prescribed-medicines in the aforementioned countries. Novartis said it expects this new approach to be commercially sustainable over the long-term, which will enable continuous support in those regions.
Each year, approximately 28 million people die from chronic non-communicable (non-transmissible) diseases (NCDs) in low and middle-income countries, representing 75% of deaths from NCDs globally. By 2025, the WHO projects that 75% of all deaths will be due to NCDs, mostly due to the rapid increase of NCDs in poverty-stricken areas.
NCDs are also projected to overtake infectious diseases in prevalence in low- and middle- income countries in the next two decades.
Novartis is launching Novartis Access to coincide with the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit 2015, taking place this weekend in New York, where the new sustainable development goals to 2030 will be adopted.
The Basel, Switzerland-based company says it is actively seeking to partner with governments, NGOs and other public-sector organisations to strengthen healthcare systems, in order to more effectively address the rapid rise of chronic diseases in low and low-middle-income countries.
Areas of potential collaboration include programs to raise awareness about diseases, train healthcare workers to diagnose and treat chronic illnesses and strengthen medicine distribution systems.
Joerg Reinhardt, Chairman of the Board of Novartis, comments: “Novartis Access is a natural extension of two important contributions our company makes to society: developing innovative medicines that help people fight disease and working to get them to as many people as possible.
“This program takes a novel approach to addressing the rising tide of chronic diseases in parts of the world where people often have limited access to healthcare. We know we will need to keep an open mindset and learn as we progress on this journey.”
Joel Levy
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