“Whether or not there is an adequate supply of generic biological drugs available will be crucial to ensuring the economic viability of health systems in both developing and developed countries.” So writes the South Centre – an intergovernmental organisation that helps developing countries to combine their efforts and expertise to promote their common interests in the international arena – in a newly published Policy Brief dedicated to the international debate on generic medicines of biological origin. Continue reading ->

Image Credits: epSos.de.

Some 8 million people living in remote areas in Liberia, Uganda and Kenya will get support to access lifesaving vaccines, as a result of a new partnership between Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Audacious Project, Last Mile Health and Living Goods. The aim is to use digital technology to boost the number of community health workers as well as to integrate immunization information and data-capture into their daily routines. Continue reading ->

Image Credits: Last Mile Health.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA), which is oversees the scientific evaluation, supervision and safety of medicines in the European Union, will scale back activities through 2019 due to significant staff loss when it moves from London to Amsterdam in March 2019 as a result of Brexit. Some of the areas that could be affected include the agency’s work at the international level on supply chain integrity, antimicrobial resistance, vaccines, and clinical data analysis. Continue reading ->

Access to powerful painkillers, usually based on opioid substances, is a crucial part of progress towards tackling NCDs, according to the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), a UN quasi-judicial body that is concerned with enforcing three global drug control conventions. Continue reading ->

Image Credits: International Narcotics Control Board and WHO Global Health Estimates, 2015. See additional online material for methods..