On July 10th, the World Health Organization (WHO) updated its lists of essential medicines and diagnostics. According to the WHO, “dozens of new drugs” have been added to the essential list, including new cancer treatments to be taken orally. The lists are designed to guide countries towards ensuring the availability and accessibility of certain medicines considered essential in the health system.

The five cancer therapies that have been added to the list are considered to be the most effective in the treatment of melanoma, lung, blood and prostate cancers, measured in terms of survival rates. These include newly-developed immunotherapies nivolumab and pembrolizumab, which have proved to be extremely effective in treating advanced skin melanoma, until recently incurable, ensuring 50% survival rates.

WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus said that “the inclusion of some of the newest and most advanced cancer drugs on this list is a strong statement that everyone deserves access to these life-saving drugs, not just those who can afford them.”

Other updates to the list include new oral anticoagulants to prevent strokes, medications for the prevention of postpartum hemorrhage, and biosimilars for chronic inflammatory conditions.

Currently, more than 150 countries refer to the WHO essential drugs list, which contains around 460 drugs considered critical to meet public health needs.