February 5th, 2020
The high price of insulin, which has reached as much as $450 per month has raised outrage across the US, writes Faisal Chaudhry, professor of law, University of Dayton in The Conversation. He writes that Presidential candidate, Senator Bernie...
January 8th, 2020
By putting morphine production and distribution under government control a, Rwanda has become a model for Africa.
As thousands die from addiction in rich countries awash with prescription painkillers, millions of people in the poorest nations...
November 20th, 2019
In a finding that may surprise many, South Africa ranked among the lowest on the cost of 13 common medicines in a 50-nation study by UK digital healthcare provider Medbelle, writes MedicalBrief. SA came in at 45 with...
October 30th, 2019
Breast cancer remains the leading cancer affecting South Africa women. It is not only under-diagnosed but many will die needlessly because the most effective drugs are too expensive, writes Salomé Meyer, activist and Cancer Alliance Access...
August 14th, 2019In May 2018, the Trade and Industry Department finally unveiled a new policy that would help to rein in pharmaceutical industry profiteering, but the industry has fought back.
Mark Heywood, the editor of the soon-to-be-launched Maverick Citizen...
August 7th, 2019The use of cheaper generic alternatives rose to an all-time high of 62% in the private sector in 2018, while the top five chronic disease list (CDL) conditions — hypertension, diabetes mellitus type 2, HIV/AIDS, hyperlipidaemia and asthma — were...
December 5th, 2018
The Sunday Times reports on one SA family's journey with their daughter, who has spinal muscular atrophy, trying to access hugely expensive new breakthrough drugs from Biogen and Novartis, for their daughter, who has spinal muscular atrophy...
November 7th, 2018The US Food and Drug Administration's Tainted Products Marketed as Dietary Supplements database lists hundreds of products with hidden active ingredients that are unsafe or unstudied. Some are sold in South African pharmacies, even under the same...
A World Health Organisation (WHO) report shows a serious lack of antibiotics under development to combat the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance. Most of the drugs currently in the clinical pipeline are modifications of existing classes of...Pharmaceutical
Health activists have welcomed the SA Department of Trade and Industry’s latest draft intellectual property policy saying it contains important reforms that will make life-saving medicines cheaper and more widely available. However, The...Pharmaceutical
A deadly national cancer drug shortage in SA is approaching its third month and patients may have to go without until October – if they can make it – reports Bhekisisa.
In February, Nic Basson was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme, a...
June 28th, 2017The cost of medicines in SA – particularly of cutting-edge, potentially life-saving medicines – has been in the news. In one of several articles featured in this FOCUS, Katharine Child of Financial Mail reports that SA needs a scientific...
June 21st, 2017
JSE-listed pharmaceutical company Aspen will have to pay a $5.2m fine plus interest imposed by the Italian Competition Authority related to the company’s portfolio of oncology products distributed in Italy, writes Business Report. Aspen...
Africa’s biggest generic drug maker Aspen Pharmacare, already under investigation by European authorities over the price of its cancer drugs, is now under similar scrutiny from South Africa’s Competition Commission, reports Business Day. The...Pharmaceutical
Erectile dysfunction drugs‚ painkillers and weight loss pills are among the most counterfeited pharmaceuticals available in South Africa.
The Times reports that, according to Mohamed Khader‚ of specialist intellectual property firm Spoor...Pharmaceutical
Amgen said its cholesterol fighter Repatha significantly reduced the risk of heart attacks, strokes and death in patients with heart disease, according to initial results of a large, trial, reports Reuters Health.
The data should pave the way...
