Making Our Medicines & Technologies Available
- Direct Relief International CEO Thomas Tighe and Venice Clinic Medical Director Karen Lamp, MD, are collaborating with Abbott to streamline the delivery of medicine to patients who need them. Efforts are aimed at improving efficiency of process and allowing doctors to spend more time treating patients.
Improving Efficiencies at Free Clinics in the U.S.
The number of people in the United States without health insurance has been steadily rising. It is estimated that more than 46 million people under the age of 65 lack health insurance. (www.census.gov)
Through more than 6,000 nonprofit health centers and clinics, commonly referred to as "safety net clinics," approximately 16 million people receive services free of charge nationwide. (Direct Relief International)
We joined with Direct Relief International (DRI) to pilot a new approach to delivering donated medicines. By streamlining the administrative process of existing patient assistance programs, we have reduced costs and improved efficiency, access to medicine and health outcomes for uninsured patients receiving care at safety net clinics.
We are bridging gaps in the U.S. health system and helping uninsured patients, particularly in minority communities, get access health services. For example, Abbott provides free medicines and nutritional and medical products through our patient assistance program. We work with national medical associations such as the American Heart Association to raise community awareness about diagnosing, treating and managing chronic diseases.
In a recent initiative, we teamed with the Lorenzen Cancer Foundation to enroll more Hispanic cancer patients in clinical trials and improve their access to information and treatment. The Cancer Patients' Alliance for Clinical Trials (CancerPACT) launched in early 2008 in the cities of Sacramento, California, and Denver, Colorado.
HealthReach
In Lake County, Illinois, more than 30 percent of the residents lack insurance. Through a million-dollar partnership, we doubled the capacity of HealthReach, the county's only free health clinic network. We provided financial support, product donations, technical assistance and volunteer support to HealthReach.
Abbott makes our pharmaceuticals, medical devices and nutritional products available through company and industry patient assistance programs. We also work with governments and others to remove underlying barriers to health care, such as the lack of infrastructure and trained personnel.
The HIV/AIDS Strategy: Getting Results
For the past year, these steps have been crucial to how we build global access to HIV/AIDS treatment.
Broad Registration
The new tablet formulation of Kaletra (known as Aluvia in developing countries) was filed or has been approved in 152 developed and developing countries. This represents countries where 95 percent of the world's HIV-positive population lives. Kaletra is the most widely registered HIV medicine, according to the WHO.
Sustainable Pricing
In 2007, we implemented a tiered pricing system for our HIV/AIDS medicines, to make them affordable and available in least developed and middle-income countries. In Africa and LDCs, the product is available at a no-profit price of $500 per patient per year. In 45 low- and low-middle-income countries (as defined by the World Bank), the medicine is priced at $1,000 per patient per year. Kaletra/Aluvia remains the most affordable protease inhibitor in all of Africa and the least developed countries, where 7 out of 10 people with HIV live.
Ensuring Capacity
Last year, we shipped more Kaletra/Aluvia to Africa than to Brazil. By the end of 2008, we expect shipments to Africa to exceed those to Brazil and Europe combined. Our global capacity benefited from years of advance planning and anticipation of market demand. We are committed to making enough Kaletra/Aluvia to supply the world's demand and to providing the same consistent level of quality for all countries, developed and developing.
"So much innovation and talent and drive in the last twenty-five years come from the private sector. But, markets only work when there's a financial reason for them to work. We're targeting people who are not being served by the market or by their government, people who are falling through the cracks."
"By working with Abbott, we have been able to tap into a bank of amazing
resources: talent, insight, skill, communications ability. It's not about
money, although we appreciate that, too. They have scientists, logistics and
distribution, an information backbone, tens of thousands of human resources, a
rich body of talent that comes up with questions and spots answers, as well as
financial resources and the products that they make. Because we're working
alongside Abbott, a lot of people have been served in a lot of different places
in the world that otherwise would have gone without health care."
—Thomas Tighe, President and CEO, Direct Relief International
For more on our activities:
Creating Broad Access to Our HIV/AIDS Medicines
