International Treaty for Global Health Research and Development
In a recent article published in the Public Library of Science (PLoS) Medicine Journal, several experts from different institutions around the world discussed the need for an international R&D treaty to help establish a more fair, efficient and sustainable system for global health research and development. Such a treaty, the article states, would be based on a political and financial system for health research that would require fair contributions by all as well as benefits for all. It follows that this type of treaty would help ensure more equal public health benefits on a global scale.
Statistics indicate that the current system for the development of new drugs does not adequately meet the needs of the majority of the world’s population, 80% of whom live in developing countries. For one thing, there is no existing global system of rules to help ensure that new treatments are affordable to the majority of people who need them. Moreover, R&D funding for diseases predominant in developing countries remains limited, and has been further diminished by recent economic crisis in much of the developed world. However, the need for reform continues to be an issue of some debate. Bio-pharmaceutical companies argue that the cost of developing and bringing a new drug to market has risen exponentially over the past couple of decades, and this in turn has raised the cost of new medicines. However, we cannot exclude the fact that such a large portion of the world’s population does not benefit from new medical discoveries.
To date the majority of cutting edge treatments are researched and developed primarily in developed countries – although this is slowly changing as many emerging countries are putting greater emphasis on developing their own R&D. In addition, recent attitudes toward global health have led to some changes in cost and affordability. For example, in some cases multinationals are implementing adjustable payment requirements to help make their new innovative medicines more affordable or even free for certain populations in the developing world. Lastly, there has been a global demand for more affordable medicines which has played a role in the increased production of generic therapeutics. Although these trends may eventually lead to greater sharing of new medical therapies, progress in this area has been relatively slow.
Thus, the authors in the PLoS journal article suggest that an international R&D treaty built on existing initiatives may help address weaknesses in the current system including “affordability, sustainable financing, efficiency, and equitable governance.” Making the benefits of modern treatments equally affordable to populations throughout the world is challenging at best. There is no doubt, however, that the current disparity in the accessibility of new drugs must be addressed, especially when many effective new treatments are unaffordable for large affected populations in much of the developing world.
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