International drug pricing transparency resolution diluted

Knowing how much goes into creating a new drug would make its pricing more transparent. — AFP

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) member states recently adopted a watered down resolution on improving drug price transparency that leading medical charity Doctors Without Borders (also known by its French acronym MSF) criticised as insufficient.

An initial draft of the resolution first introduced by Italy at WHO’s main annual meeting on May 20-28, 2019, called for near absolute transparency in the pharmaceutical sector, including requirements that companies make all data from clinical trials publicly available.