Migrating while managing diabetes: why access to insulin in pens must be available to everyone

Diabetes ranks among the top 10 causes of death globally and affects over half a billion people worldwide. Over 80% of those affected live in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Insulin pens and newer diabetes medicines can simplify treatment and reduce complications for people with diabetes. While these tools are widely available in high-income countries, … Read more

MSF calls for equitable access to TB drugs and diagnostics in first-ever plenary session on access at the TB Union Conference

Bali/Geneva, 13 November 2024 – At the premier global conference on tuberculosis (TB), the annual Union World Conference on Lung Health, taking place in Bali, Indonesia, Christophe Perrin, TB Advocacy Pharmacist at MSF’s Access Campaign, was invited to present on Access to Medicines and Diagnostics during a plenary session. This is the first ever time … Read more

MSF and global TB activists take stage at annual TB conference

Activists present ‘Time for $5’ petition signed by over 206,000 people asking US corporations Cepheid and Danaher to drop test prices  Bali/Geneva, 12 November 2024 – At the annual TB Union Conference, taking place in Bali, Indonesia, over 70 TB activists, including Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), took the stage during the opening ceremony to … Read more

MSF calls for urgent action as governments and donors are failing children with TB

Too many children with TB are neither tested nor treated, with many countries failing at the first hurdle: updating policy guidelines in line with WHO recommendations.  Geneva, 15 October 2024 – A new report released today by Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF), shows that children with tuberculosis (TB) continue to be left behind in the … Read more

MSF welcomes Indian Patent Office’s rejection of J&J’s application for paediatric formulation of lifesaving TB drug

Mumbai, 17 July 2024 – On Friday 5 July 2024, the “pre-grant opposition” filed in December 2020 by The Delhi Network of Positive People (DNP+) and a Mumbai-based tuberculosis (TB) survivor Ganesh Acharya, and supported by Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) was successful: the Indian Patent Office rejected the US pharmaceutical corporation Johnson & … Read more

MSF and Health Justice Initiative welcome J&J’s withdrawal of patents on lifesaving TB drug in South Africa

The patent withdrawal is a result of an unprecedented investigation by South Africa’s Competition Commission into J&J We welcome today’s news that following the Competition Commission’s investigation initiation into anti-competitive practice, J&J has officially withdrawn its secondary patents in South Africa on the lifesaving TB drug bedaquiline, opening up generic competition in South Africa. Candice … Read more

Secrets Cost Lives: Transparency and access to medical products

As an international medical humanitarian organisation, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has repeatedly witnessed how the world’s most vulnerable people are left without access to the lifesaving medicines, diagnostics tests and vaccines they need. Ensuring access to these medical products requires access to information throughout their life cycle, from the R&D stages to when … Read more

Danaher continues to charge exorbitant prices for lifesaving medical tests despite urgent demands for price reductions by several Ministries of Health

Geneva, 17 June 2024 – In September 2023, the US corporation Danaher, which owns diagnostics maker Cepheid, announced a price reduction of the primary GeneXpert test used to diagnose tuberculosis (TB), from US$9.98 to $7.97, amid pressure from TB activists. Since then, officials from the Ministries of Health of Sierra Leone, Ghana, Ukraine, Belarus and … Read more

Urgent call for Europe to improve treatment access for tuberculosis: Many TB medicines and formulations accessible in lower- and middle-income countries remain unaffordable or unavailable in Europe

Berlin, 6 June 2024: As the World Health Organization (WHO) concluded a meeting with European health officials and civil society to improve access to tuberculosis (TB) medicines in the European Union (EU)/European Economic Area (EEA), Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF), along with TB activists, urge European countries to maintain this momentum by taking immediate … Read more

Gavi’s next strategy must make sure to reach the 10 million children in fragile and humanitarian settings who are missing vaccines

Where are we now? This week, on 6-7 June 2024, the Board of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, is meeting in Geneva to approve and endorse the one-page framework for Gavi 6.0, which outlines its strategy for the five-year period from 2026-2030. Gavi, which is funded by public and private donors, was set up nearly 25 … Read more