Cancerworld recently published an article by Ann Wagstaff titled Begging for imatinib: why do so many patients still lack access to this lifesaver? It highlights the challenges people living with CML face in accessing imatinib, a life-extending medicine that has been generic for many years. Here is our perspective on the story.
We have known for some time that most innovative drugs are not available in low-middle income countries (LMICs) and that patients needlessly suffer without treatment. The Max Foundation bridges this gap by developing access models in LMICs in collaboration with it partners to help patients in urgent need.
This article is important because it dispels common myths about access to innovative medicines after patient expiry in LMICs and underscores that availability of treatments does not by itself create access for patients. These myths prevent progress. By telling the story of one of the first orphan drugs in cancer and what took place when the originator lost patent exclusivity, the article highlights three critical lessons that we must consider when developing solutions:
To achieve access for all, we must put the patient first and act as a global community instead of pushing responsibility on one another. As a first step, we must agree on a definition of access meaning that it only exists when all patients are able to receive the right treatment and the right dose at the right time.
Only by putting the needs of patients’ first and working together as a community can we drive lasting changes that will deliver real solutions for patients in need.
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.
As part of our 20th Anniversary Celebration on October 19th, The Max Foundation was honored to have Princess Dina, President-elect of the Union of International Cancer Control, reflect on our global efforts over the last two decades. We share her letter here with gratitude and humility. “Lack of access to treatment” is a five-word sentence that is….
I have learned that the pain in the heart and soul is deep and will always be there. The ‘bucket’ has a hole, and even when you dedicate every day of your life to making sure other families don’t have to live with this pain, the bucket will never be filled. I have also learned….
In Latin America, the Maximize Life Campaign has become something like a tradition – a time when each patient organization creates an event or activity of their choice and powers it up for a campaign that takes on a life of its own!
13 patient groups from 11 Latin American countries joined this year’s movement, bringing together patients and caregivers with the purpose of telling the community that cancer is an issue, that ignoring it is not going to make it go away, and that the best approach is to learn about it in order to know what to do about it. From governments to the general public, everybody can get involved in figuring out how to treat cancer patients as members of society and not as a burden.
