Proposed Shake-up on Drug-Pricing at Global Fund Risks Higher Costs for Middle Income Countries and Donors

Myanmar 2012 © Sami Siva A patient shows a daily dose of his medication for extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis GENEVA/NEW YORK, DECEMBER 2, 2013—Ahead of the Global Fund replenishment conference in Washington, DC, this week, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has warned the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria of the consequences of spearheading a new pricing initiative that could result in middle-income countries paying significantly higher prices for medicines to combat diseases including HIV and tuberculosis. In a report to the Board of Directors ahead of this meeting, new Global Fund Executive Director Mark Dybul announced a new initiative and creation of a task force to "develop a framework on multiple pricing and royalty tiers for health commodities." The idea would cement tiered pricing—the practice of selling drugs to different countries at different prices depending on their socio-economic status—for medicines and vaccines. For the past 12 years, countries, or the Global Fund negotiating on behalf of several countries, have simply negotiated for the lowest price possible, without tying prices to a particular country's wealth. “The Global Fund’s model in the past has been to use its check book to drive prices down,” said Rohit Malpani, director of policy and analysis for MSF’s Access Campaign...
Source: MSF News - Category: Global & Universal Source Type: news