WHO Priority Medicines Report Sees Drop In R&D Productivity

By Brittany Ngo for Intellectual Property Watch

Decline in pharmaceutical research and development productivity is one of the main challenges addressed in the 2013 edition of the World Health Organization report, Priority Medicines for Europe and the World. Whether the decline in pharmaceutical R&D is due to R&D depletion, overly strict regulatory hurdles, or the current pharmaceutical business model remains unanswered.

The report is available here (by chapter, pdf), or here (entire report, pdf).

The report was launched on 9 July as an update to the 2004 version. Sharing the same objectives as its predecessor, the 2013 report aims “to identify common areas of interest between Europe and the world” in the area of bringing new and better medicines “to address the diseases and conditions which pose a current or future threat to public health.”

The update also takes into consideration the transforming development and epidemiologic landscapes, especially with respect to low- and middle-income countries and their shift in burden of disease from communicable to noncommunicable diseases.

In addition to reviewing priority medicines in the various disease areas, such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, and non-communicable diseases, the report analyses new approaches to promoting innovation for pharmaceuticals. Regulatory structures, pricing and reimbursement policy, the use and sharing of data, as well as patient and citizen involvement are all discussed in detail in Chapter 8 of the report.

The report noted that joint or shared policies of European countries have helped to shape the global landscape for pharmaceutical R&D, but emphasised that this balance is changing quickly. Brazil, China, India, and Russia were identified as countries that between 2011 and 2016 will overtake the traditional “EU5” markets (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom), in terms of influencing the global pharmaceutical industry.

Identifying and establishing what might constitute a “fair premium price” for a new medicine, was said to be a “crucial element in any pricing policy that seeks to reward innovation.” The report said that the numerous policies such as external price referencing, internal reference pricing, value-based pricing, price caps, and taxes have had varied impacts on the price and availability of medicines.

Brittany Ngo is currently completing her Master’s in Health Policy and Global Health at the Yale School of Public Health and previously obtained a Bachelor’s of Arts in Economics from Georgetown University. Through her studies she has developed an interest in health-related intellectual property issues. She is a summer intern at Intellectual Property Watch.