Thursday, April 29, 2010

[EQ] The Health Impact Fund: Making Medicines Accessible for All

The Health Impact Fund: Making Medicines Accessible for All

A Report of Incentives for Global Health


Aidan Hollis and Thomas Pogge – Lead authors

Available online PDF [152p.] at: http://www.yale.edu/macmillan/igh/hif_book.pdf

Corrections and Supplements November 2009 http://www.yale.edu/macmillan/igh/files/HIF_supplementsNov09.pdf

 

‘……The chief problems with the present system governing the development and distribution of medicines are well known: despite relatively low manufacturing costs, patented medicines are often very expensive and are therefore unaffordable for most people; and diseases concentrated among the poor attract little or no pharmaceutical research. As a result of both factors, the disease burden among the poor is, avoidably, very high. Many diseases of the poor are communicable and expose all of humanity to the risk of new and virulent strains. These problems are further aggravated: by patients who, often deterred by high prices, fail to complete a full course of treatment; by lack of access to competent medical staff who would ensure that medicines are taken correctly; and by counterfeiters, often attracted by high prices, who may dilute a medicine’s active ingredients.

In addition, competitive marketing and litigation costs reduce the return from innovation, and make it a less attractive investment. Each of these problems has provoked ideas and initiatives by academics, NGOs, governments, and international agencies. By supporting both innovation and real access, the Health Impact Fund extends the best of these ideas into one comprehensive, unified solution that makes substantial progress toward a rational system of developing and distributing worldwide the pharmaceuticals we all need……”

 

Preface

Contents

Executive Summary

1. The Health Impact Fund: A Summary Overview

2. Reward Mechanism

3. Health Impact Measurement

4. Governance and Administration

5. Financing the Health Impact Fund

6. A Moral Argument for Creating the Health Impact Fund

7. The Last Mile Problem

What Is the Last Mile Problem?

Pharmaceutical Companies, the Health Impact Fund, and the Last Mile Problem

8. An Economic Analysis of Patents and the Health Impact Fund

9. Alternative and Complementary Solutions

Governmental and Non-governmental Direct Purchases

Drug Price Reduction Efforts

Patent pools

Push Mechanisms

Pull Mechanisms

10. The Health Impact Fund: A Cost-effective, Feasible Plan for Improving Human Health Worldwide

The Need for Change

How the Health Impact Fund Works for Patients

How the Health Impact Fund Works for Pharmaceutical Companies

How the Health Impact Fund Works for Taxpayers

Why for Pharmaceuticals? And Why Now?

The Path Forward

Appendix A: Poverty, Global Health, and Essential Medicines

The Disease Burden in Developing Countries

Appendix B: Pharmaceutical Markets and Innovation

Global Pharmaceutical Markets

Insurance and Pricing

Notes on Quotations

References


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