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WHO Pushes towards Transparency of Prices of Health Products

On 28 May 2019, the World Health Organization announced a resolution encouraging Member States to “enhance public sharing of information on actual prices paid by governments and other buyers for health products, and greater transparency on pharmaceutical patents, clinical trial results and other determinants of pricing along the value chain from laboratory to patient.” The resolution also urged Member States to “work collaboratively to improve the reporting of information by suppliers on registered health products, such as reports on sales revenues, prices, units sold, marketing costs, and subsidies and incentives.”

Ally Law and Health Costs

The Italian Ministry of Health reported the adoption of this resolution with triumphant tones, since the resolution was proposed by Italy and co-sponsored by Algeria, Andorra, Botswana, Brazil, Egypt, Eswatini, Greece, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Luxembourg, Malesia, Malta, Portugal, Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Uganda and Uruguay.

Many hope that transparency of prices of health products will result in greater fairness in health systems and will ultimately drive prices down. On the other hand, representatives of the industry claim that the focus on price will not shed light on the complexities of costs linked to research and manufacturing of health products. Instead, Gaelle Krikorian of Medecins Sans Frontieres believes that the resolution marks only a first step and that more disclosure is necessary.

Click here to read the full article by Paola Sangiovanni of Ally Law member firm Gitti and Partners.