UN report seeks to close health innovation and access gap, but IFPMA is not convinced

The United Nations (UN) Secretary-General’s High Level Panel (HLP) on Access to Medicines has published a series of recommendations on research and development (R&D) of health technologies and ensuring everyone can benefit from vital therapies.

Among its contentious recommendations, is a proposal that countries struggling to afford should be permitted, unilaterally, to issue “compulsory licences” on patented drugs so allowing them fast access to a generic supply without the originator’s permission.

Its proposals have not convinced international pharma trade body the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA), however, with its concerns including a perceived reductive approach to the facts around the pharmaceutical R&D model.