PRIVATE PATENTS AND PUBLIC HEALTH

PATENTED ESSENTIAL MEDICINES: THE 2015 EML 206
In May 2015, the WHO added several important medicines 207 including
drugs for the treatment of cancer, tuberculosis and hepatitis C to its EML.
The uniqueness of these medicines — aside from their value as treatments
for devastating illnesses — is their high price.
When the EML was first conceived as a tool for governments and
healthcare providers seeking to meet the health needs of their populations,
medicines were added to the list when scientific data demonstrated their
importance but also when they could be made widely available at low
cost. But with new, medically necessary treatments priced to break the
budgets of healthcare systems worldwide, in high-income countries as
well as in the developing world, it is clear that the paradigm for the EML
has shifted.
Several WHO experts said in March that the 2015 Expert Committee on
the Selection and Use of Essential Medicines, which recommends which
medicines should be included on the EML, would have to face challenging
questions on cost-effectiveness and affordability. 208 The Expert Committee
in its May 2015 conclusions explicitly called on the WHO to “take actions
at global level to make these medicines more accessible and affordable,”
especially as related to treatments for hepatitis C. 209
If people around the world are to have access to essential medicines,
their presence on the EML is necessary, but not sufficient, to ensure that
access. When the WHO deems medicines medically essential, this
should — as the Expert Committee asserted — be ground for governments
and other stakeholders to take action to ensure that they are made
available and affordable. Availability will depend, among other things, on
whether the products can be made affordable for the communities that
need them. And in the case of the more recent products, IP issues will
affect affordability.
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THE NEW FRONTIERS: PATENTS AND TREATMENT FOR CANCER, HEPATITIS C, AND OTHER DISEASES
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