ESPEYB19 13. Global Health for the Paediatric Endocrinologist Improving access to healthcare in pediatric endocrinology and diabetes (6 abstracts)
13.5. Access to insulin products in Pakistan: a national scale cross-sectional survey on prices, availability, and affordability
Saeed A , Lambojon K , Saeed H , Saleem Z , Anwer N , Majid Aziz M , Ji W , Liu W , Chen C , Yang C , Fang Y & Babar Z-U-D
Department of Pharmacy Administration and Clinical Pharmacy, School of Pharmacy and Center for Drug Safety and Policy Research, Xian Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China
yufang@mail.xjtu.edu.cn Front Pharmacol 2022 13:820621. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2022.820621
Brief Summary: This national cross-sectional survey in Pakistan found poor availability of insulin in the public sector, even for brands manufactured by domestic companies.
Access to insulin remains a major issue worldwide in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This survey identifies many of the reasons that prevent access and provides directions for action. First, Pakistan is home to several national biosimilar human insulin manufacturers, including Getz Pharma. The cost of this biosimilar insulin is 20–30% lower than the cost of the originator brand. However, > 90% of the products found in the public sector were manufactured by multinational companies (Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi), a finding that the authors attribute to marketing and promotional practices. This is an important observation at a time when WHO proposes prequalification of human insulins to facilitate the presence of smaller companies on a larger number of markets. Second, even though the cost of manufacturing human insulin and insulin analogues (recently included in the WHO List of Essential Medicines) is very similar, the retail cost of insulin analogues is 3–4 times higher. One reason may be that Pakistan does not produce biosimilar insulin analogues. Finally, while human insulin is free if obtained in the public sector, it is rarely available, meaning that patients and families have to buy it from the private sector, where it is often unaffordable. Overall, this suggests that policy makers have a major role to play in promoting access to insulin in Pakistan, similar to other LMICs.
Article tools
My recent searches
My recently viewed abstracts
Authors
ESPE Yearbook of Paediatric Endocrinology
ISSN 1662-4009 (Online)
© Bioscientifica 2024 |
Privacy policy |
Cookie settings
BiosciAbstracts
Bioscientifica Abstracts is the gateway to a series of products that provide a permanent, citable record of abstracts for biomedical and life science conferences.
Find out more