Biopharmaceutical associations seek to improve regional health quality
24 octubre 2018

On Wednesday, October 17th, different biopharmaceutical associations in Latin America launched the application Nuestra Salud América Latina (Spanish for “Our Health Latin America”). The platform aims to expose the unmet medical needs in the region and find solutions for them, through innovation, to improve the lives of patients. As a public-private initiative, this plan seeks that public policies encourage companies to invest in medical advances and ensure access to medicines necessary for the preservation of life. In the coming months, biopharmaceuticals will meet again to outline an action plan to achieve the objectives.

The idea is driven by an alliance that includes the Association of Pharmaceutical Research and Development Laboratories (AFIDRO), the National Association of Pharmaceutical Laboratories (ALAFARPE), the Argentine Chamber of Medicinal Specialties (CAEME), the Chamber of Pharmaceutical Innovation of Chile (CIF), the Central American Federation of Pharmaceutical Laboratories (FEDEFARMA), and the Federation of the Latin American Pharmaceutical Industry (FIFARMA). Together, the organizations issued a statement highlighting how drugs have enabled people to live longer and healthier lives.

Nevertheless, the institutions involved recognize that people need more alternatives to decide which medicines to use, health systems with resources to provide quality care, and a research context that allows access to the latest generation of treatments. While life expectancy has increased from 56 to 76 years between 1960 and 2016, those nations that allow newly developed medicines to be purchased get their citizens to live up to three more years.

The creators of the project consider that the international collaboration in the continent and the funds destined to these ends are fundamental, if one considers that the noncommunicable diseases also have a sensible impact in the way of life that can be reduced by means of governmental association and private innovation. The program aims to improve conditions affecting people throughout the region and those involved will continue to work together to increase people’s ability to make decisions about their health, encourage research and the development of new drugs, and free the sector from taxes or tariffs, mainly in Brazil, Mexico and the Southern Cone, Andean and Central American regions.

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