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Content :
Access to Medicines - Policy
"Eighty percent of the world's population has little or no access to medicines. The pharmaceutical industry must rise to this challenge. At sanofi-aventis, we take action through practical initiatives.
Therefore, we have identified seven areas that constitute serious public health concerns in developing countries and in which the Group has a history of pharmaceutical expertise:
• Malaria • Tuberculosis • Sleeping sickness • Leishmaniasis • Epilepsy • vaccines • mental health
However, as an industrial company, we also aim to further local economic development in developing countries and we are committed to optimizing our factories in these countries.
The future of the pharmaceutical industry is at stake; if these challenges are not met, the industry will no longer exist. At sanofi-aventis, we are actively committed to improving access to medicines."
Jean-François DEHECQ, Chairman of sanofi-aventis, at the Biovision 2005 Conference.
The sanofi-aventis Access to Medicines policy is organized according to four priorities and draws upon the Group's various areas of expertise: - Research and Development
- Implementing new treatment strategies and improving currently existing treatments
- Information, Education and Communication (I.E.C) at all stages of the healthcare process; as we say, "right down to the chain to the very last link"
- Pricing and distribution policies that help facilitate access to medicines
The "Access to Medicines" Program could not —and will not— move forward without a strong partnership policy. By partners, sanofi-aventis means all public and private national, international and multilateral organizations that play a role in ensuring better access to healthcare in developing countries.
Areas for Progress| Areas for Progress |
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| 1. | Support Research and Development to more effectively combat the five diseases listed above. Develop drugs and vaccines to offer effective treatment for malaria, today and tomorrow. Develop research programs on tuberculosis, leishmaniasis, and sleeping sickness. | | 2. | Improve existing drugs and develop new treatment regimens: this is the case for malaria (ASAQ), tuberculosis, and sleeping sickness (development of eflornithine kits required for the treatment of sleeping sickness). | | 3. | Ensure the best differential pricing policy. Each patient must have access to effective, quality treatment, without the cost becoming an obstacle. For this to be possible, our pricing policy includes making medicines available at a "no profit – no loss" price for the most underprivileged populations. | | 4. | Reduce industrial production costs by transferring manufacturing plants to developing countries; this also promotes the growth of expertise and employment in these countries. | | 5. | Increase the number of diseases that benefit from these various programs through initiatives focusing on IEC (Information, Education, Communication), distribution, and differential pricing. | | 6. | Increase production volumes of the different medicines for the benefit of manufacturing plants located in developing countries. | | 7. | Develop a partnership policy with scientific organizations (development agencies, universities, WHO, etc.), educational organizations (National Malaria Programs, NGOs, etc.) and distribution entities (N.G.Os, wholesalers – dispatchers). |
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