UN Panel: Compulsory Licenses, Transparent R&D Policies Would Improve Access

The United Nations High-Level Panel on Access to Medicine is proposing that governments rely on compulsory licenses to improve patient access to medicines in a highly anticipated report that has been met with dismay from industry.

The report centers mainly on the barrier that rising drug costs pose to access, offering a number of recommendations long criticized by industry, such as compulsory licenses, which let competitors replicate patented products.

Industry disclosures on the cost of research and development, marketing, production and distribution would serve to hold drugmakers accountable for price hikes, the panel says, suggesting that countries impose “robust and effective accountability frameworks.”