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On October 1, 2021, the World Health Organization issued a report on the 22nd Model Essential Medicines List (EML). The new list added four new drugs for cancer, including enzalutamide, but also illustrated the role of high prices as a barrier to access. The WHO noted in a press release that: “A group of antibodies that enhance the immune response to tumour cells, called PD-1 / PD-L1 immune-checkpoint inhibitors, were not recommended for listing for the treatment of a number of lung cancers, despite being effective, mainly because of their exceedingly high price and concerns that they are difficult to manage in low-resourced health systems.Read More →

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DATE: Thursday May 9, 2019 RE: Civil Society Open Letter Regarding Harmful Changes to WHA Transparency Resolution 9 May 2019 – Today more than 100 civil society organizations and health experts sent an open letter to World Health Organization (WHO) Member State delegates urging them to oppose harmful proposed changes to the draft World Health Assembly (WHA) resolution on transparency to be discussed at the 72nd WHA on May 20-28, 2019 in Geneva, Switzerland. The groups and individuals signing the open letter said they were appalled at proposals put forth at informal negotiations at the WHO on Tuesday May 7, 2019, which, “would make thisRead More →

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On Monday May 6, 2019, the Union for Affordable Cancer Treatment (UACT) submitted a letter to the Minister of Health urging Canada’s support of a proposed resolution on transparency to be discussed that the Seventy-second World Health Assembly this May. The proposed resolution provides a strong global mandate to expand the transparency of pricing, R&D costs, intellectual property rights and medical outcomes, for life-saving medical technologies. Currently, the resolution has garnered ten co-sponsors. See below for links to: UACT Letter to MOH of Canada Urging Support of WHA Transparency Resolution Draft of WHA72 Transparency Resolution (as of May 6, 2019) Text of the letter sentRead More →

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On Friday, 20 January 2017, thanks to the support of the Shuttleworth Foundation flash grant, the Union for Affordable Cancer Treatment (UACT) in collaboration with Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) hosted a technical workshop on proposals for a Cancer Innovation Fund (CIF). The half day meeting was held at the World Council of Churches (WCC), from 9AM to 1PM. The meeting itself with a discussion of the burden of disease and the challenges of providing “access to medicine for all,” followed by a presentation of the Cancer Innovation Fund, first as a concept, to expand access to new drugs for cancer, and then as two possibleRead More →