November 2017
Dear UAEMers all over Europe!
Hope you had a nice Halloween. We are pleased to share with you our latest news from UAEM Europe. Email us at uaemeuropenewsletter@gmail.com for any content you'd like to see in the December issue.
Enjoy reading,
The Newsletter team -- Marie, David (Germany) and Rosie (Ireland)
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Topsector Life Sciences & Health Meeting, September 14th, The Hague NE
A cooperation of UAEM and License to Heal - Exciting times for UAEM the Netherlands.
On the 14th of September, we had our second official meeting with the Dutch Ministry of Health. This time however, the list of Ministries attending, grew, with the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science being present also. In this very promising setup, we were invited to pitch our ideas regarding technology transfer and alternative licensing agreements for 20 minutes with a 15min discussion afterwards. In cooperation with the "License to Heal" initiative by the youth wings of the Dutch political parties, we had prepared ourselves well for the tough discussion to follow.
What to expect from a meeting with the ministry?
During our presentation, we wanted to show once more the crucial role of the universities in national licensing agreements and also emphasize the need for a national policy as indicated by several international players, rather than each university inventing the wheel itself. Of course, these major developments won’t happen overnight. The representatives were enthusiastic and asked us many questions, extending the meeting’s allotted time slot by 15 minutes. Yet, the government officials were not keen on implementing national guidelines right away. They liked the idea of a pilot project, where we would start with a few universities/active agents/compounds. It undoubtedly seemed like seeds for new policies had been planted in their heads, but that they needed time to discuss it amongst them.
Where to go from here?
Concrete action points were difficult to make during this meeting. However, we will definitely follow up with our contact person at the Ministry of Health for a next meeting. We are now also in contact with the Ministry of Foreign affairs, that could not attend this event. Thus, we are planning to have a meeting with them soon. And of course, the cooperation, that is bound to bear fruits in the future, will be maintained with our partners at License to Heal!
-Jeffrie & Victoria
Contact them at: president@uaem.nl or uaem.maastricht@gmail.com
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Superstars- braced for tough talks and tough weather in The Hague!
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Over half of new cancer drugs show no improved survival rates
The British Medical Journal (BMJ) reported that of all the 48 new cancer drugs developed between 2009-2011, only 10% of them showed improved survival.
R&D is the issue..
Read more here.
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Have you heard of Tim Reed?
Tim is the Executive Director of Health Action International (HAI), a global organization based in Amsterdam. They are devoted to access to medicines through conducting research and advocacy to influence policies.
HAI asked Tim a few questions about his job. We at UAEM thought his answers resonated with our work and found them quite inspiring...
What is the most interesting aspect of your field of expertise?
My training, or my expertise, is in the politics of pharmaceutical regulation and how that impacts public health. So everything for me comes down to the politics, with a small p and a large P. This means conflicts of interest, capture, corporate bias and so on, but also the engagement of nation states in protecting the corporate interests of industry over the interests of public health. And all points in between. Secondly, with the HAI team, I get to lead strategies that operationalise that view—it means we can move into areas that no other organisation has dared to tread, or add our expertise to a field of medicine which has neglected the politics of medicine.
How do you make people interested in your topic?
Actually, it’s not that difficult—I think all the HAI team are passionate about inequitable access to medicines, and the massive irrational use of medicines. There is nothing quite so infectious as passion in a subject to interest others. And everyone, without exception, is interested in health, and everyone is interested in medicine. The sometimes-astronomic cost of medicines, why medicines do or don’t work, why we have medicines for manufactured diseases and why we don’t have medicines for the global killers—the list of topics is endless. And if I am losing someone in conversation, I can always talk about snakebite antivenom, which seems to excite everyone. And just for good measure I can talk about delivery of antivenom by drone—that really gets people going, especially men. Odd that.
What do you wish people would be more aware of?
That things can change—that a professional, evidence-based and expert civil society can change even the global order of how public health can be promoted over the interest of commence. And at the same time, things would be a whole lot worse, in terms of the safety, efficacy, availability, price, etc. of medicines, if organisations like HAI were not there fighting for the human right to health.
Read more about Tim here.
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Bienvenue, UAEM Paris!
We are delighted to welcome our new francophone chapter, Paris! Make sure to give their Facebook page a like.
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Neglected Tropical Disease of the Month
Each month we will showcase a new NTD to raise awareness!
10 facts about Ascariasis (roundworm)
- Most common worm parasite
- Found in: warm, humid areas of Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia
- Flourishes in: areas with poor sanitation and crop irrigation by improperly treated wastewater
- Acquired by: the ingestion of infected eggs
- Causes: shortness of breath, wheezing, fever, cough
- Treatment: albendazole, mebendazole, and pyrantel pamote
- How does this relate to access to medicines? Impax Laboratories started selling mebendazole in 2016 at an average wholesale price of $442USD per pill. Impax bought the rights to it, and no longer allows the cheaper version to be sold.
- Read more here .
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Have you heard of the new Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP)?
The GARDP is a a joint initiative of Drugs for Neglected Diseases International (DNDi) and the WHO, whose objectives for 2017-2023 are as follows.
- Develop and deliver up to four new treatments through improvement of existing antibiotics and acceleration of the entry of new chemical entities. Build a robust pipeline of pre-clinical and clinical candidates with up to four candidates brought into pre-clinical or clinical development.
- Secure EUR 270 million to execute its R&D programmes, build a highly experienced R&D team, and establish a dedicated entity.
- Support and advocate for appropriate use of antibiotics, sustainable access, and suitable financing of R&D for new antibiotic treatments.
They have 3 current focuses: Neonatal Sepsis, Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) and the Antimicrobial Memory Recovery Initiative (AMRI).
They also have a lot of job opportunities available at the moment, if you're interested!
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Have you seen the incredible findings from UAEM Canada's research on university contributions to global health?!
2017 University Report Card for Global Equity in Biomedical Research
It evaluates 15 of Canada's universities for their contributions to neglected health needs including biomedical research, equitable licensing, global health education, and transparency. Published October 2017.
Read more on the CMAJ blog post.
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Attention all Chapters!
Have you heard about the Chapter Handbook for Europe? It has everything you need to know, and more. Thank you to the European Empowerment Committee (EEC) for making this.
https://chapterhandbook.wordpress.com/
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Photo credit: Neil Brandvold
An affordable cure for Sleeping Sickness?
Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi), a non-for-profit research organization, based in Geneva, discovered fexinidazole in 2007, and took the drug through clincal trials for $50 million USD, which is a fraction of what for-profit companies usually spend.
European Congress on Tropical Medicine and International Health in Antwerp, Belgium heard clinical trial results, and they were good. ) is currently treated with a combination of antiparasitic pills and IV infusions. On the 17th October, the African trypanosomiasisSleeping sickness (human
"The oral therapy — called fexinidazole — cured 91% of people with severe sleeping sickness, compared with 98% who were treated with the combination therapy. It also cured 99% of people in an early stage of the disease who would typically undergo a spinal tap, to determine whether they needed infusions. The relative ease of the treatment with fexinidazole means that if approved, it might save more lives than the current option, say the investigators leading the phase 3 trial, the final phase of testing before the drug goes to regulators for approval."
Read more from Nature here, or about the completed phase III clinical trial here.
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UCLA Vs Dheli High Court
Xtandi is a life-prolonging cancer drug for metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer. It is sold without a patent in India. But the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), which developed the drug with US taxpayer money and holds the patent, has bypassed the patent office and is fighting a battle in the Delhi high court. They are represented by former Union minister P. Chidambaram, who has made two appearances in the case this year. Of the hundreds of pages they have filed in their writ petition, which The Wire has reviewed, they have not mentioned even once that there are big pharmaceutical companies with whom UCLA has commercial relationships on this drug. And curiously, a Pfizer lawyer has been given the power of attorney.
"We expect Pfizer or Astellas to pursue the patent in India, but the University of California should have done things differently,” says James Love, director of Knowledge Ecology International (KEI). Court will be held in December of this year. Read more here!
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Quote of the month
"Many of these drugs are extremely profitable", he said, "but there is absolutely no link between the price set and (...) the returns on the research - it's a complete myth."
- Richard Sullivan, professor of cancer and global health at Kings College London
Read more from the BBC here.
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Best of luck to all chapters with your A2M Week events! Remember to send in photos and a short re-cap of what you did, to uaemeuropenewsletter@gmail.com
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