Learning from the Hepatitis C Experience to Improve Access to Medicines Globally

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10 December 2019

Learning from the Hepatitis C Experience to Improve Access to Medicines Globally

Cartoon by Caro van Leeuwen

The Global Health Centre, the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property and the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health recently hosted a one-day symposium to discuss creative approaches to improve access to medicines globally. Affordable medical products and treatments remain one of the main health challenges in low-, middle- and high-income countries and especially affect vulnerable and marginalised groups.

Multiple representatives from the pharmaceutical industry, non-profit sector and governments gathered at the Graduate Institute on 3 December 2019 to highlight potential pathways which could facilitate access to medicines and hence contribute to the achievement of universal health coverage. The three sessions that took place during the day analysed the role that the Hepatitis C virus (HCV) played during the last decade and reflected on the unprecedented strategies the disease generated to provide better access to an effective cure.

The Hepatitis C experience has provided key lessons in the global health landscape and has opened the door to innovative approaches which could tackle broader health challenges such as the high treatment prices of cancer and neglected diseases or the lack of research models for antibiotics and antimicrobial resistance. When the first direct-acting antiviral (DAA) that could cure HCV was approved, 71 million people were affected by the virus and the majority could not afford a $84,000 treatment. This situation led to a series of innovations and effective approaches in the health system which considerably reduced the price of the drug. The panelists presented various methods such as voluntary and compulsory licensing, price negotiation, the “Netflix” model and the development of low-price competitor DAAs.