Though humanitarian donations are clearly not the only answer to the complex challenges facing the global oncology community, they do have a critical role to play in reducing inequities in care and extending the lives of certain populations whose local economies and health systems remain years or decades away from facilitating solutions on their own.
In a recent commentary published in the Journal of Global Oncology, co-authors Pat Garcia-Gonzalez MA, Gilberto Lopes MD, Erin Schwartz MSW, and Lawrence Shulman MD, clearly outline the need and efficacy of humanitarian donation programs using lessons learned from the success of joint access initiatives between Novartis and The Max Foundation.
In addition to providing concrete evidence for the need and efficacy of humanitarian donation programs, the paper also demonstrates the terrible human cost that would result from their absence. Garcia-Gonzalez and her co-authors write:
“…in this era of globalization, we are leaving our friends behind and they know it. There is only one thing worse than hearing your loved one is diagnosed with cancer. It is to be told that there is a treatment that could help, but because of the place where you live, your loved one cannot access it and will therefore die a premature and avoidable death.”
The Max Foundation is a leading global health nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating health equity. For 28 years, Max has pioneered practical, scalable, high-quality solutions to bring life-extending treatments and patient-centered health care to more than 100,000 people living with cancer and critical illness in low- and middle-income countries. Max believes in a world where all people can access high-impact medicines, where geography is not destiny, and where everyone can strive for health with dignity and with hope.
March 9 marks the devastating anniversary of the day my stepson Max died after a three-year battle with cancer. Max was 17 years old. I have dedicated most of the last 34 years to galvanizing the global community to help families avoid the suffering of the premature loss of their loved one. In the process,….
In 2017 The Max Foundation, through its subsidiary MaxAid, and Novartis have renewed their commitment to patients by launching CMLPath to Care™ a new collaboration aimed at providing humanitarian access to treatment for CML and other rare cancers for those patients for whom no other form of local treatment access exists today. CMLPath to Care consists of humanitarian product donations and funding support from Novartis to Max, and an innovative new distribution model developed and implemented by Max and its international distributor, under the Max Access Solution umbrella.
Three women diagnosed with HER2- HR+ advanced breast cancer in Mozambique have begun treatment, with efforts underway to open access in eight additional countries The Max Foundation leading initiative through its Humanitarian Partnership for Access to Critical Treatments (Humanitarian PACT) with the goal of increasing access to treatment, care, and support at no cost to….
