Q: What is the Humanitarian PACT?
A: The Humanitarian Partnership for Access to Critical Treatments (Humanitarian PACT) for Advanced Breast Cancer is a multi-stakeholder collaboration among professional, nonprofit, and commercial organizations who share the commitment of The Max Foundation to accelerate health equity by delivering medication, technology, and supportive services to people living with cancer. This collaborative initiative is launching primarily to improve outcomes for people living with HR+/HER2 negative advanced breast cancer in low- and middle-income countries.
Q: Who are the participants in the Humanitarian PACT?
A: Founding partners of the Humanitarian PACT for Advanced Breast Cancer include The Max Foundation, the ABC Global Alliance, the American Society of Clinical Pathology, Cepheid, and Novartis AG. Discussions are ongoing with additional founding partners who we hope will help join this critical effort.
Q: What will the contributions of the Humanitarian PACT members be?
A: Partner members will be investing resources and/or their unique organizational knowledge and capabilities to support the expansion of The Max Foundation’s Max Access Solutions (MAS) model to provide access to treatment for HR+/HER2 negative advanced breast cancer.
Q: What is Max Access Solutions?
A: Max Access Solutions is a proven treatment access model created and operated by The Max Foundation. MAS harnesses the power of partnerships and prioritizes individual patients’ needs to improve outcomes for cancer in low resource healthcare settings. More than 100,000 people have received access to treatment through Max Access Solutions, which now operates in more than 75 low-resource countries.
Q: Why was breast cancer chosen for this multi-stakeholder collaboration?
A: Breast cancer is the most common cause of cancer in women. Approximately 2.2 million cases occur each year worldwide with about 70,000 deaths annually. Importantly, an estimated 45% of new cases are diagnosed each year, and more than 55% of breast cancer related deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries. Breast cancer patients in these low-resource settings additionally face unique challenges including poor access to screening, delayed diagnoses, inadequate disease management and lack of availability of therapeutic interventions. As Pat Garcia-Gonzalez, CEO of the Max Foundation says, “While there is great awareness of breast cancer today, the urgent needs of people living with advanced breast cancer in low-resource countries has been overlooked. Expanding our focus to include advanced breast cancer is in line with our commitment to help those who no one else is helping.”
Q: What are the immediate and longer-term goals of the Humanitarian PACT?
A: Patients enrolled in the program will receive medication and support free of charge. In collaboration with its partners, Max will initially provide access to breast cancer treatments to patients in nine countries (Bahamas, Benin, Bhutan, Haiti, Jamaica, Mozambique, Nepal, Saint Lucia, and Seychelles) in 2023, expanding to 29 countries by 2025. In addition to engaging additional partners, launch preparations include expansion of in-country teams, growth of the physician network to treat patients, and introduction of health systems strengthening programs such as diagnostics and supportive care.