Low- and middle-income countries experienced delays accessing new essential medicines, 1982–2024

Wouters, Olivier J. ORCID: 0000-0002-2514-476X and Kuha, Jouni ORCID: 0000-0002-1156-8465 (2024) Low- and middle-income countries experienced delays accessing new essential medicines, 1982–2024. Health Affairs, 43 (10). 1410 - 1419. ISSN 0278-2715

Text (Wouters Kuha 2024 - Health Affairs) - Accepted Version Pending embargo until 1 January 2100. Download (696kB)

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Abstract

Little is known about how long it takes for new medicines to reach countries with different income levels. We analyzed data, sourced from IQVIA, on the timing of new drug launches in seventy-five low-, middle-, and high-income markets from 1982 to 2024. The sample captured the majority of essential medicines (as designated by the World Health Organization in the twenty-third Model List of Essential Medicines) that first came into medical use anywhere globally from 1982 onward. Kaplan-Meier estimates were used to quantify delays in launches across countries. Our analysis comprised 119 medicines with 6,871 observed launches. Nearly three-quarters (74 percent) of first launches occurred in just eight countries (in order of the most first launches, the US, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Japan). From the first launch globally, the median time to availability was 2.7 years for high-income countries, 4.5 years for upper-middle-income countries, 6.9 years for lower-middle-income countries, and 8.0 years for low-income countries. The gap between richer (high- and upper-middle-income) and poorer (lower-middle- and low-income) countries remained largely unchanged over time. Strategies to address the disparities highlighted by this analysis are urgently needed.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2024 Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.
Divisions:	Health Policy Statistics
Subjects:	R Medicine H Social Sciences R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine
Date Deposited:	07 Oct 2024 11:24
Last Modified:	25 Nov 2024 22:00
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/125633

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