With spiraling outbreaks of COVID-19 in 3 countries, Iran, Italy, and Korea, WHO officials warned Monday of growing risks that the epidemic could become a full-fledged pandemic – although Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stepped back from the brink, telling a press briefing on Monday: “Does this virus have pandemic potential? Absolutely it has. Are we […] Continue reading ->
[Press Information Bureau, Government of India] In light of the threats to human health and biodiversity due to climate and pollution, India marks the beginning of the “super year of Biodiversity” with the hosting of the 13th Conference of Parties (COP) of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), an […] Continue reading ->
Novartis has relinquished a patent granted by the European Patent Office for Kymriah, a promising new gene therapy for certain forms of leukemia, claiming the patent was no longer essential to the development and marketing of the treatment. The decision followed the moves by the Swiss-based NGO, Public Eye and the French-based Doctors of the […] Continue reading ->
The lower house of the French parliament has approved a milestone requirement that pharmaceutical companies must disclose the amount of public funding that was used in the research and development of new medicines entering the national market, as well as allowing those contributions to be factored into negotiations over final drug pricing. After being initially […] Continue reading ->
Incarcerated people suffer from poorer health outcomes and limited access to health care, which can impact them and their communities even after release. However, prisoners’ health is not being monitored well, and there is a lack of evidence to inform policy making to improve the health of prison populations. These are the main findings of […] 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 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 ->
In a move fraught with international political overtones, Italy’s new Minister of Health is moving to replace the Director General of the Italian Drug Agency (AIFA), Dr Luca Li Bassi, who was the key architect of the May World Health Assembly (WHA) resolution supporting greater price transparency in medicines markets, Health Policy Watch has learned. […] Continue reading ->
A coalition of over 40 personalities – from doctors and economists to actors and health access activists – released an open letter Tuesday calling on the French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and the Minister of Health Agnès Buzyn to support a series of amendments to the French Social Security Budget Bill for 2020 providing for […] Continue reading ->
Bad Hofgastein, Austria – A call to action to make stronger individual and collective commitments for climate change and health marked the end of the European Health Forum (Gastein). The closing plenary session, titled “the global climate crisis: a public health emergency,” ended the varied program with discussions on two issues high on the political […] Continue reading ->