Dr Tedros, directeur général de l’OMS, affirme que les efforts d’Unitaid stimulent les systèmes de santé dans le monde

Genève – Le Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, directeur général de l’Organisation mondiale de la Santé (OMS), a souligné aujourd’hui l’importance fondamentale de l’innovation aux fins de la concrétisation des objectifs de développement durable pour la santé dans le monde, et a affirmé que les efforts d’Unitaid présentaient le potentiel nécessaire pour changer en profondeur la santé des personnes, des familles, des communautés et des nations.

« C’est un fait : l’innovation a toujours été à la source des progrès en matière de santé humaine», a déclaré le Dr Tedros ce mardi lors du Forum 2019 sur la mise en œuvre des subventions d’Unitaid. Et d’illustrer son propos au moyen des exemples de la pénicilline, de l’anesthésie, de la théorie des germes, de l’assainissement et du séquençage du génome humain.

Le Dr Tedros s’est adressé au secrétariat d’Unitaid ainsi qu’à une assemblée composée d’experts de la santé dans le monde, de décideurs et de plus d’une centaine de membres du personnel stratégique et opérationnel participant aux 42 programmes de subventions actives d’Unitaid.

« Les projets que vous financez et les réductions de tarifs que vous négociez profitent au système de santé dans son intégralité », a-t-il déclaré.

Faisant à nouveau référence à Unitaid, il a salué sa « capacité unique d’adaptation constante aux besoins changeants de la santé dans le monde » et a appelé à un renforcement de l’harmonisation des mesures de l’OMS et d’Unitaid afin de garantir que les innovations sanitaires ne « sont pas arrêtées net sur le chemin de la modulation des ressources et de la durabilité ».

Selon lui, l’OMS se doit de jouer un rôle particulier dans la protection de l’introduction à grande échelle d’innovations sanitaires.

« Notre mandat global et notre présence sur la scène internationale nous confèrent une position de choix dans la généralisation des innovations », a-t-il affirmé. « Nous pouvons contribuer à l’adéquation entre les innovations empiriques et les demandes émanant des différents pays. Nous sommes conscients que nous devons nous investir dans ce rôle bien plus activement qu’auparavant. »

Le Dr Tedros a appuyé les travaux récemment entrepris par Unitaid en faveur de la lutte contre le paludisme à Plasmodium vivax ainsi que les efforts mobilisés par cette entité en vue de déployer des technologies durables pour combattre le virus de l’immunodéficience humaine, la tuberculose, le paludisme et l’hépatite C dans des pays à plus faible revenu.

Le forum se poursuivra toute la journée du mercredi et sera consacré à la « modulation des ressources», à savoir l’extensibilité d’innovations ayant fait leurs preuves à tous ceux qui en ont besoin.

Unitaid recherche des technologies innovantes et durables pour aider à lutter contre les maladies

Genève – Unitaid a le plaisir d’annoncer un appel à propositions pour des projets visant à accélérer le développement de versions à action prolongée de médicaments, susceptibles de révolutionner le traitement et la prévention de maladies telles que le VIH, la tuberculose et le paludisme dans les pays à revenu faible et intermédiaire.

Il existe des médicaments oraux quotidiens sûrs et efficaces pour la prévention et le traitement des principales maladies, mais ils ne sont pas toujours pris de façon constante, ce qui entraîne une détérioration de la santé, la propagation des maladies et le développement de superbactéries résistantes aux médicaments.

Les traitements à action prolongée comprennent les médicaments injectables à libération lente, les implants, les timbres ou anneaux qui peuvent durer plus d’un mois, ainsi que des médicaments oraux qui peuvent être actifs plus d’une semaine. Cette façon d’administrer des médicaments libère les patients de schémas thérapeutiques complexes et quotidiens qui comportent de nombreuses pilules, et pourrait également améliorer l’accès aux médicaments et lutter contre la stigmatisation.

Unitaid fait appel à des propositions qui :

  • reformulent des médicaments de référence essentiels en produits à longue durée d’action ;
  • permettent la mise en œuvre de plans solides pour commercialiser ces produits, y compris une stratégie de mise à l’échelle pour les déployer à grande échelle ;
  • se concentrent sur des produits pouvant être lancés sur le marché dans un délai de trois à cinq ans.

Par le biais d’appels à propositions, Unitaid trouve de nouvelles idées intelligentes pour contribuer à alléger le fardeau des maladies et mène des projets pilotes qui, s’ils réussissent, sont déployés à grande échelle par des organisations partenaires telles que le Fonds mondial. Un comité d’examen indépendant composé d’experts en santé mondiale aide Unitaid à choisir les meilleures propositions à financer grâce à un processus de sélection concurrentielle.

Unitaid apporte son soutien au programme de préqualification de l’OMS

Geneva – Unitaid is investing a further $22.1 million in the World Health Organization´s (WHO) prequalification programme for medicines and diagnostics.

Unitaid has supported the prequalification programme for medicines since 2006, and for diagnostics since 2009. With the new investment, Unitaid´s support to the programme now stands at about US$ 157 million.

‘WHO is grateful for Unitaid’s support to our prequalification programme,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “It has been critical in ensuring that the health products reaching millions of patients across the world are of good quality, safe and effective.”

The new grant, for 2019-2021, supports some aspects of prequalification of medicines and in vitro diagnostics, and the WHO collaborative procedure for registration.

WHO prequalification is an internationally recognized process that enables medicines and other health products to be procured and distributed by international funding bodies such as the Global Fund.

WHO, Unitaid and the Global Fund are among the 12 organizations that have united to accelerate progress towards the health-related SDGs through a shared Global Action Plan for Healthy Lives and Well-being for All.

Intellectual property report on long-acting technologies

Medicines We Can Trust Campaign Rallies Mekong Governments and Leaders to Improve Access to Quality Medicines

PHNOM PENH, 7 November 2018 – Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and other leaders from the Greater Mekong Subregion joined hands as part of a global campaign to improve access to quality medicines. The announcement was made during the Phnom Penh Regional Conference on the fight against falsified, substandard and unlicensed medical products.

The Medicines We Can Trust campaign is a global movement advocating for access to quality medicines and stronger health regulatory systems.

“The world wastes approximately US$30 billion each year on poor-quality medicines,” said Dr. Phillip Nguyen, Director, International Regulatory Policy & Programs, USP, a committed partner of the campaign. “Substandard and falsified medicines give patients false hope, erodes trust in health systems and fail to protect people from the devastating impact of diseases. Despite the scale of this issue, it is rarely prioritized – or even discussed outside of expert circles.  The Medicines We Can Trust initiative is a multi-stakeholder effort focused on raising awareness on the impact of poor-quality medicines on peoples’ lives.”

At least one in 10 medicines are copied illegally with substandard manufacturing practices in low- and middle-income countries, including many countries in Asia Pacific. In Southeast Asia alone, an estimated 30% of antimalarial drugs are of poor-quality contributing to an alarming rise in antimalarial resistance across the region. Anti malarials is just one of a broader range of drugs that are becoming in-effective; antimicrobial resistance already accounts for 700,000 deaths every year, could cause up to 10 million deaths per year, and cost US$100 trillion by 2050.

“In the Greater Mekong Subregion, cross-border collaboration between countries will be critical to stop the ongoing distribution of poor-quality medicines through trade channels. Cambodia’s leadership in convening a regional and multisectoral meeting to address the issue is a great start,” said Ruby Shang, Chair of the Asia Pacific Leaders’ Malaria Alliance (APLMA) Board.

“Momentum is building. Apart from the Cambodia conference, positive leadership on this issue is evident through existing platforms like Medicine Quality & Global Health conference, and Regional Regulatory Partnership (RRP). This global campaign will further strengthen this leadership as it engages the regional community, including policymakers, civil society, regulators, health professionals, and researchers to act against substandard and falsified medicines.” added Dr. Sivong Sengaloundeth, Deputy Director General, Food and Drug Department, Ministry of Health, Lao PDR.

“Ensuring that all people can access quality medicines to effectively fight infectious diseases is crucial. Unitaid is proud to support the campaign against poor-quality medicines to tackle the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance,” said Dr. Philippe Duneton, Unitaid’s Deputy Executive Director. “These superbugs are threatening the global health community’s gains against HIV, tuberculosis and malaria and jeopardizing the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.” Unitaid invests half of its portfolio – US$ 500 million – in innovative grants to combat drug resistance and is a committed partner of the campaign.

Visit Medicines We Can Trust to get involved and learn more. #MedsWeCanTrust 

 

Lancet commentary highlights Unitaid interest in long-acting technologies to treat diseases

GENEVA – Unitaid is working with partners and stakeholders to explore introduction of long -acting (LA) technologies – such as injectable drugs, patches and implants – to treat infectious diseases in low and middle-income counties (LMICs), according to a commentary co-authored by Unitaid’s Executive Director Lelio Marmora and published in the Lancet.

“To avoid the pitfalls of the past, when new medicines were introduced first in high-income countries and only much later in LMICs, we need to be thinking ahead about LA technologies for infectious diseases,” said the article, co-authored by Carmen Perez Casas, Ian Grubb, Craig McClure and Marmora.

A global technical consultation will be held in Geneva on 1-2 November to consider the science and market landscapes for LA technologies.

Scientific and technological advances may make it possible over the next decade for children to be protected from malaria for an entire season with a single injection of chemoprophylaxis, for example, or for women to protect themselves from being infected with HIV by taking capsules once a fortnight that slowly release antiretroviral medicine.

The article cited Cabotegravir, a new antiretroviral drug, that is being studied as a singular intramuscular injection every eight weeks for pre-exposure prophylaxis, as well as LA formulations in malaria that are being explored for chemoprophylaxis and vector control.

Apart from injectable drugs, once-weekly gastric resident capsules, various types of patches, implants and vaginal rings were also being developed to deliver long-acting medicines, the article said.

Long-acting technologies are likely to pose big challenges in low and middle-income countries and will require stronger health systems in managing supply chains and medical waste.

Difficult intellectual property and generic manufacturing issues will also have to be sorted out before the completion of clinical trials, if LA products are to be sourced from generic suppliers, as is the case with more than 90 percent of antiretroviral drugs supplied by funders such as the Global Fund and the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the article added.

“Above all, LA approaches in addition to being safe must be designed upfront for simplicity to minimize burden and increase convenience for patients, providers and health services.” Please click here to read the commentary in full.

Plusieurs organisations mondiales actives dans le domaine de la santé vont adopter de nouvelles modalités de collaboration pour agir plus efficacement

Berlin – Eleven heads of the world’s leading health and development organizations today signed a landmark commitment to find new ways of working together to accelerate progress towards achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

Coordinated by the World Health Organization, the initiative unites the work of 11 organizations, with others set to join in the next phase.

The commitment follows a request from Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of Ghana, and Prime Minister Erna Solberg of Norway, with support from United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, to develop a global action plan to define how global actors can better collaborate to accelerate progress towards the health-related targets of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.

“Healthy people are essential for sustainable development – to ending poverty, promoting peaceful and inclusive societies and protecting the environment. However, despite great strides made against many of the leading causes of death and disease, we must redouble our efforts or we will not reach several of the health-related targets,” the organizations announced today at the World Health Summit in Berlin. “The Global Action Plan represents an historic commitment to new ways of working together to accelerate progress toward meeting the 2030 goals. We are committed to redefine how our organizations work together to deliver more effective and efficient support to countries and to achieve better health and well-being for all people.”

The group has agreed to develop new ways of working together to maximize resources and measure progress in a more transparent and engaging way. The first phase of the plan’s development is organized under three strategic approaches: align, accelerate and account.

Align: The organizations have committed to coordinate programmatic, financing and operational processes to increase collective efficiency and impact on a number of shared priorities such as gender equality and reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health.

Accelerate: They have agreed to develop common approaches and coordinate action in areas of work that have the potential to increase the pace of progress in global health. The initial set of seven “accelerators” include community and civil society engagement, research and development, data and sustainable financing.

Account: To improve transparency and accountability to countries and development partners, the health organizations are breaking new ground by setting common milestones for nearly 50 health-related targets across 14 Sustainable Development Goals. These milestones will provide a critical checkpoint and common reference to determine where the world stands in 2023 and whether it is on track to reach the 2030 goals.

The Global Action Plan will also enhance collective action and leverage funds to address gender inequalities that act as barriers to accessing health, and to improve comprehensive quality health care for women and girls, including sexual and reproductive health services.

The organizations that have already signed up to the Global Action Plan for Healthy Lives and Well-being for All are: Gavi the Vaccine Alliance, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the Global Financing Facility, UNAIDS, UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF, Unitaid, UN Women, the World Bank and WHO. The World Food Programme has committed to join the plan in the coming months.

The final plan will be delivered in September 2019 at the United Nations General Assembly.

For more information, www.who.int/sdg/global-action-plan

Media enquiries

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance : Frédérique Tissandier; +41 79 300 8253; ftissandier@gavi.org

Global Fund: Ibon Villelabeitia; +41 79 292 5426; ibbon.Villelabeitia@theglobalfund.org

UNAIDS: Sophie Barton-Knott; +41 79 514 6896; bartonknotts@unaids.org

UNDP: Adam Cathro; +19179159725; adam.cathro@undp.org

UNFPA: Omar Gharzeddine; +1 212 297 5028; gharzeddine@unfpa.org

UNICEF: Sabrina Sidhu; +1 917 476 1537; ssidhu@unicef.org

Unitaid: Andrew Hurst, +41795616807; hursta@unitaid.who.int

UN Women: Maria Sanchez Aponte; +16467814507; maria.sanchez@unwomen.org

World Bank Group: Maya Brahmam; +1 202 361 2594; mbrahmam@worldbankgroup.org

WHO: Christian Lindmeier; +4179 500 6552; lindmeierch@who.int

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