A range of civil society organisations today issued a letter to European Union leadership urging support for a World Health Organization resolution that mandates a feasibility study on a fund for cancer research and development that delinks R&D costs from the price of health technologies.
The letter from 17 organisations to EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini is available here [pdf].
The groups said the resolution “would provide the Organization a mandate to conduct a feasibility study of creating a multi-country push and pull fund for cancer R&D predicated upon the principle of the delinkage of the costs of R&D from the price of health technologies.”
“In order to truly realize the right to health, it is imperative that delinkage becomes part of the DNA of the European Union’s quest to achieve universal health care,” they said.
WHO member states are currently holding “intersessional” discussions on a draft resolution ahead of the annual World Health Assembly in May.
“This is a timely discussion as health systems are under siege due to the soaring costs of cancer medicines,” the letter states, citing the December rejection by Britain’s health authority of a cancer medicine priced at £90,000 per year.
“The primary incentive to invest in R&D for new cancer drugs is the grant of a monopoly that allows pharmaceutical developers to charge high prices for many years. These high prices have resulted in unjust outcomes including rationing, unnecessary pain and death,” the letter said. “Some governments and experts have proposed the creation of very large innovation funds that would allow countries to take measures to lower drug prices without having an adverse impact on R&D.”
The letter was signed by:
Access to Medicines Ireland
Alliance for Public Health
All-Ukrainian Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS
Commons Network
Consumer Association the Quality of Life-EKPIZO
Dying for a Cure
Health Action International (HAI)
Health and Trade Network
Hepatitis Scotland
Just Treatment
Knowledge Ecology International Europe (KEI Europe)
Prescrire
Public Eye
Salud por Derecho
STOPAIDS
UAEM Europe
Union for Affordable Cancer Treatment (UACT)
[…] 17 Civil Society Groups Urge EU To Support WHO Resolution On Cancer […]