Top Pharma Companies Form Coalition to Increase Access to Cancer Therapies in Developing Countries

Less than half of the cancer therapies deemed essential by the World Health Organization are available in low- and lower-middle-income countries (LLMICs). The newly formed Access to Oncology Medicines (ATOM) Coalition seeks to address this issue. The coalition, led by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), brings together several leading pharma companies, including Bristol-Meyers Squibb, AstraZeneca, Gilead, Roche, and more.

According to Phil Taylor of PharmaPhorum, “In one of the first moves by a member of ATOM, Novartis has agreed to license rights to its tyrosine kinase inhibitor drug nilotinib – sold as Tasigna as a leukaemia treatment – to the UN-backed Medicines Patent Pool (MPP).”

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(Source: PharmaPhorum, May 20^th, 2022)