GLP-1 drugs to treat diabetes as well as treatments for cystic fibrosis and cancer have been added to the World Health Organisation’s essential medicines list, in efforts to boost global access to the usually expensive medications.
The Independent reports that the catalogue of 523 medicines for adults and 374 for children identifies drugs the WHO believes should be available in all functioning health systems.
“Rather than letting price be a disqualifying factor, the committee views inclusion in the list as a potential catalyst for access,” said Dr Lorenzo Moja, head of the WHO secretariat overseeing the list.
The expert committee added the active ingredients in Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro to the list, to treat type 2 diabetes in conjunction with established cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease or obesity.
“High prices of medicines like semaglutide and tirzepatide are limiting access to these medicines,” said the WHO, noting that encouraging generic drugmakers to produce the product would also help when patents begin to expire on the drugs next year.
Several companies are already working on generic copies.
The list also includes Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ combination therapy for cystic fibrosis – Trikafta or Kaftrio. Activists have long criticised its high price and lack of accessibility.
It also includes Merck’s top-selling cancer immunotherapy drug, Keytruda, for the treatment of cervical cancers, colorectal cancers, and non-small cell lung cancers that have spread, or metastasised, and recommended strategies to increase access.
The WHO also added rapid-acting insulin analogues, also made by Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, among others, to the list for treating type 1, type 2 and gestational diabetes.
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Obesity drugs may be added to WHO’s essential medicines list
Poor people also have a right to medicine
More insulin producers drop prices