Lelio Marmora is stepping down as Executive Director of Unitaid in March 2020, sources told Health Policy Watch. Marmora, who has led the organization since 2014, told staff on Monday that he would be leaving to seek “new challenges.” His departure is not likely to bring “unexpected or drastic changes” to Unitaid’s funding priorities over […] Continue reading ->
Efforts to eliminate river blindness, a debilitating parasitic disease that causes vision loss in 1.15 million people, may be threatened by another infection known as African eye worm, according to a modelling study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases. While the World Health Organization has set a target to eliminate river blindness in most African countries […] Continue reading ->
Italy’s former Undersecretary of State for Health, Armando Bartolazzi, discusses the implications of recent moves to replace the head of the Italian Medicines Agency (AIFA), based on political considerations of the a new Health Minister. “Health is a Political Choice” said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros in his keynote session at the World Health Summit, […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization and African Union have signed a sweeping Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate on improving access to medicines, strengthening epidemic preparedness, and expanding universal health coverage across the African continent. These are the three main pillars of the MOU signed Monday by the WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and African Union Chair […] Continue reading ->
Pakistan became the first country in the world to introduce the typhoid conjugate vaccine (TCV) into its routine immunization program on Friday. The government of Pakistan is launching the national vaccine with a campaign in Sindh Province, which has already been deploying the vaccine on an emergency basis since April 2019 to tackle an ongoing […] Continue reading ->
The debate around drug price transparency was a highlight of the 4th Forum on Access to Medicines in Europe, hosted by the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) Thursday. The forum focused its discussions around cancer therapies, medicines shortages, and transparency around R&D costs. “It is high time to challenge the status quo on medicines policy […] Continue reading ->
MMV CEO David Reddy talks about the steps MMV is taking to support a new generation of malaria research leadership, promote more gender-sensitive malaria treatment and fast-track innovation on new malaria combination therapies. This follows a string of MMV successes over the past two decades in fostering new paediatric malaria treatments, new combination therapies to […] Continue reading ->
Berlin, Germany – A “public interest R&D” model can bring effective treatments for neglected diseases to patients at comparatively low cost, through a collaborative, access-oriented development process. The model is outlined in the new report 15 Years of Needs-Driven Innovation for Access, by Drugs for Neglected Disease Initiative (DNDi), released Wednesday. The model etches an […] Continue reading ->
Berlin, Germany – The Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi) is celebrating its 15th anniversary and in a special event Tuesday night, founders and supporters of the product development partnership (PDP) gathered in Berlin to reflect on lessons learned and challenges that still lie ahead. Here below are excerpts of what they had to say. […] Continue reading ->
The Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi) celebrates its 15th anniversary this week, as a non-profit drug R&D organization that sought to create an alternative model for developing drug treatments for the most neglected diseases and the world’s poorest populations. Since DNDi’s launch in 2003, the organization has developed eight new treatments, including the first-ever […] Continue reading ->