Big Pharma is losing sight of the world’s poorest patients

Swiss drugmakers Novartis and Roche are among the few pharmaceutical giants still investing in access to medicines in poorer countries. But geopolitical tensions, US trade pressure and a…

Swiss drugmakers Novartis and Roche are among the few pharmaceutical giants still investing in access to medicines in poorer countries. But geopolitical tensions, US trade pressure and a growing focus on wealthy markets threaten to reverse hard-won progress. Some two billion people globally don’t have access to essential medicine, most of whom are in low- and middle-income countries, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

For more than two decades, the Access to Medicine Foundation based in the Netherlands has urged the 20 largest pharmaceutical companies to make their drugs available to the poorest patients in the world. Most companies rarely launch drugs in low-income countries. If they do, the prices are too high, or health systems aren’t equipped to administer the drugs.

The tenth edition of the Foundation’s Access to Medicine Index, published on Tuesday, finds that access has moved from the fringes of corporate operations to become a more integral part of how ...