Industry Report Tracks Innovation’s Value To AIDS Treatment In Developing Countries

A new report launched in time for this week’s AIDS conference in South Africa analyzes factors relating to access to HIV/AIDS treatments over the past 15 years. The analysis includes a look at government policies used during that time, the contribution of generic and research-based industries, and the importance of voluntary licensing.

The report, entitled The Evolution of Access to Essential Medicines for the Treatment of HIV/AIDS, was authored by Tim Wilsdon and Lilian Li of Charles River Associates and commissioned by the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA). A key contribution of the report, according to the authors, is its analysis of the contribution of innovation to efforts.

Charles River focused on six countries known to have made progress in providing access to antiretroviral treatment (ART): Botswana, Brazil, China, India, Rwanda and South Africa. It identified a number of success factors in those countries.

The success factors include: “dedicating resources and sustaining national disease awareness programmes, as well as having an appropriate healthcare infrastructure to ensure diagnosis, testing, access to medicines and keeping patients on a course of treatment,” as summarised in a press release.

On intellectual property rights, the summary said, “In reviewing an extensive body of literature and official documents, the report could not determine that intellectual property rights impacted access to HIV treatment and identifies an increasing trend in the use of voluntary licensing.”

The report notably found that compulsory licensing, while it “may have played some role in price negotiations with pharmaceutical companies, did not play an overly important role in the progress against AIDS. The greater role has been voluntary licensing, with the report citing the Medicines Patent Pool as a key facilitator.

It said that having national programmes in place that involve greater resources, including financial, has been most effective in fighting AIDS.

A summary of report highlights provided by the sponsors follows:

“Report on value of innovation to HIV/AIDS treatments in low- and middle-income countries

• Significant steps have been taken in the past 15 years to control the HIV/AIDS epidemic by preventing transmission and providing access to treatment. Government policy success factors include national plans, implemented through appropriate healthcare infrastructures. But women and children continue to face significant challenges in access to treatment.
• Both the generic and the bio-pharmaceutical industries have contributed to the affordability of antiretroviral drugs (ARVs); supported by an increasing trend in the use of voluntary licensing. Maintaining innovation will be crucial to meet United Nations (UN) targets.
• Data collection on the clinical and economic impact will be imperative in providing a continued rationale to tackle HIV/AIDS.”

“This report … is intended to complement the body of knowledge on innovation and access as governments, the global health community and the private sector are engaged in efforts to meet the UN’s aim to ensure at least 90% of all people with HIV have access to ARVs by 2020 and end the AIDS epidemic by 2030,” the summary said.

For the future, the report recommended “both the generic and bio-pharmaceutical companies continue with their roles to improve access to HIV medicines, and ensure continued investment for the development of new HIV therapies,” it said. For this, data collection on the clinical and economic impact of HIV/AIDS treatment is “imperative.”

At this week’s AIDS2016 International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa, the Global Development Professionals Network will host a session. Philippe Douste-Blazy, president, Unitaid, and a candidate for World Health Organization director general, will speak on 21 July on the topic of the report: “HIV/Aids treatment and prevention from 2000 to today.”