Prices of essential medicines to increase from April 1 The list of essential medicines includes drugs l

The list of #essentialmedicines includes drugs like paracetamol, antibiotics such as azithromycin used to treat bacterial infections, anti-anaemia medicines, vitamins and minerals.

www.newsinc24.com/news/prices-...

Screenshot of the approval of the product in question, dated Feb 12/2026, with status "approved", from the health canada drug product database https://health-products.canada.ca/dpd-bdpp/dispatch-repartition

👀In VERY exciting #tuberculosis news, there is FINALLY a #rifapentine product approved in Canada!
Hopefully marketed soon!
Of note: This product is generic rifapentine from Macleods.
(Sanofi has never bothered to even apply to get brand-name Priftin approved in Canada😒).
#TB #EssentialMedicines 💊

Dr Natalie Greaves IAHPC Delegate to 158th @who.int Executive Board Meeting gives our statement on WHO's work on Emergency, Critical, Operative & Primary Health Care urging inclusion of #palliativecare & #essentialmedicines. iahpc.org/uploads/2026...

Currently marking #WorldNeglectedTropicalDiseasesDay by discussing whether this new proposal for Canada to rely more on foreign regulatory approvals would finally get #EssentialMedicines like #albendazole onto the Canadian market.
Perhaps still not profitable enough💰💊for pharma.😒
#WorldNTDDay

Good thread⬇️⬆️on Canada's proposal on using foreign regulators for drug approval.
Re: old #EssentialMedicines "new" to Canada, Matt's theory is sadly true.
But:
a) Slight hints Canada not totally forgetting them here (e.g. explicit pediatric formula refs)
b) A few (not all) could slip in this way...

The curious constraints on clofazimine Abstract. Clofazimine is a WHO-recommended therapy for multibacillary leprosy and an emerging option for drug-resistant tuberculosis and non-tuberculous my

Interesting piece on #clofazimine access in the USA and elsewhere from @akesselheim.bsky.social and colleagues.
"The curious constraints on clofazimine"
💊🌐
(as a bonus, nice to see someone out there actually reading some of my articles on access to old #EssentialMedicines in Canada😜)

This is indeed quite a proposal to sneak out the door on the Friday before year-end holidays.🧐
Not sure my 1st reaction is quite as harsh as @mattherder.bsky.social (there are decades-old #EssentialMedicines it should be easier to bring to Canada) but have many questions & need to read in detail.💊🌐

Screenshot of the cover of the linked report entitled "Preparing an Essential Prescription Drugs and Related Products List: A Report From the Advisory Panel"

While there are definitely things to like in the recent Expert Committee #Pharmacare report, the report from Canada's Drug Agency is clearer on the inclusions/exclusions, and underlying reasoning, of a potential national formulary.📜💊 #EssentialMedicines
www.cda-amc.ca/sites/defaul...

Lessons from the Interagency Emergency Health Kit for access to essential medicines in Canada - Journal of International Humanitarian Action Despite Canada’s efforts to position itself as a global health leader, important medicines, including multiple drugs found on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines, are not available domestically....

The absence of some WHO #EssentialMedicines from Canada (& ensuing access barriers when Canadians need them) is a longstanding issue.
A while back @jwnickerson.bsky.social & I wrote how Canada had just 10/14 drugs👀 in the first aid kit version of the WHO EML.
(*11/14 in most recent kit update)

Screenshot of the cover of the Final Report of the National Pharmacare Committee of Experts 2025 from this link: https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/hc-sc/documents/services/publications/health-system-services/health-system-services-report-national-pharmacare-committee-experts/report-national-pharmacare-committee-experts.pdf

Lots to like in this #pharmacare report (it's feisty!) tho I still worry its approach to WHO #EssentialMedicines lets fall through the cracks the many drugs on the WHO EML💊📜, from #albendazole to #tuberculosis drugs, that aren't actually sold in Canada despite being the recognized standard of care.

What do recent changes to the WHO #EssentialMedicines List mean for #haemophilia on the ground? We asked the Haemophilia Foundation of Uganda's Agnes Kiskaye. Read her thoughts and hopes on the Haemnet blog: https://loom.ly/AB3rNJI

#HemeSky #MedSky #BloodSky

Happening tomorrow – IAHPC, INCB & WHO webinar: Safe and Adequate Access to Essential Palliative Care Medicines

📅 Tune in on November 13 at 3 PM UTC
👉 Learn more: bit.ly/489Mi70
📝 Register here: bit.ly/4nKs7RJ

#IAHPC #PalliativeCare #EssentialMedicines #AccessToMedicines #HealthPolicy

We are announcing the launch of Pallimedicines, a new app that offers quick and easy access to consensus-based recommendations on essential palliative care medicines — available anytime, anywhere.

See more 👉 bit.ly/47TqgUV

#IAHPC #PalliativeCare #EssentialMedicines

📅 Tune in on November 13 at 3 PM UTC

Join IAHPC’s Expert Panel Discussion on Balanced National Policies to Improve Safe and Adequate Access to Essential Palliative Care Medicines.
👉 Learn more: bit.ly/47uCy79
📝 Register here: bit.ly/4nKs7RJ

#IAHPC #PalliativeCare #EssentialMedicines #HealthPolicy

Once again, with #Budget2025 imminent, there are win-win investments #Canada could make to improve access to #EssentialMedicines both at home & abroad.
Like using its publicly-owned pharma plant to make💊💉commercial pharma doesn't want to.
Or funding tools like the GDF, then also procuring💊from them.

Ironically, Canada has been slow to explore obvious paths for direct mutual benefits to aid.
E.g., despite being a founding donor to the Global Drug Facility (GDF) for #tuberculosis, which offers #EssentialMedicines for TB that pharma won't bother to sell here, Canada has never accessed💊from GDF.

Screenshot of the first two paragraphs of the article

"Advocacy groups form a buyer’s club to obtain generic versions of pricey #Vertex #CysticFibrosis drug [ #Trikafta #Kaftrio]"
#EssentialMedicines 💊🌐
www.statnews.com/pharmalot/20...

ദേശീയ മരുന്നു സുരക്ഷാ പദ്ധതിയുടെ ഭാഗമായി യു.എ.ഇ എട്ട് അവശ്യ മരുന്നുകൾ വികസിപ്പിച്ചു

#UAEDrugSecurity #EssentialMedicines #UAEHealthcare #PharmaDevelopment #MadeInUAE #NationalSecurity #Thumbay #Pharmaceuticals #DrugDevelopment #HealthcareInnovation #UAEeconomy #GCChealth #nursingmanthra

Perhaps this panel will have some insights for #Canada, where access to #EssentialMedicines for #tuberculosis is a problem as well...
See e.g., www.cmaj.ca/content/195/...
and this 2025 report from @stoptbcanada.bsky.social www.stoptbcanada.com/news/access-...

#ECHR #humanrightsviolations
#EssentialMedicines

Patients waiting up to three weeks for essential medicines because pharmacists cannot make substitutions Patients are being forced to wait up to three weeks for medicines owing to outdated legislation preventing pharmacists from being able to substitute alternative formulations, according to a survey…

A survey conducted by the #NationalPharmacyAssociation has revealed that patients are being forced to wait up to three weeks for medicines because legislation is preventing pharmacists from being able to provide substitutes

#ukpharmacy #prescribing #essentialmedicines #NPA

#Pallinews this week: Brimming with practical help, useful information & a book review

Read the full issue 👉🏻 bit.ly/46tmcel

#IAHPC #PalliativeCare #EssentialMedicines #PalliativeCareAdvocacy
#GlobalHealth #PainRelief

And re: the high cost/limited availability of the cystic fibrosis drugs added to the #EssentialMedicines list💊📜:
The makers of "elexacaftor + tezacaftor + ivacaftor" raked in $5 billion from just that product in the first 6 months of 2025.
Lots of room to get drugs to more patients at lower prices.

Screenshot of the first page of Table 1: Recommended Changes on the 2025 EML from the linked document, showing new medicines added and new indications.

All kinds of interesting developments on the new WHO Model List of #EssentialMedicines ( #EML).💊📜
#Ebola #mpox #CysticFibrosis #HepatitisE #diabetes
iris.who.int/bitstream/ha... #WHOMEML

Time for Canada to align with global innovations in treatment for tuberculosis KEY POINTS Despite serious disruptions to tuberculosis (TB) programs during the COVID-19 pandemic, including in Canada,[1][1] the past few years have also seen global advances in TB treatment. Novel d...

Canada faces similar access problems, with #EssentialMedicines for #tuberculosis in shortage, or not marketed in Canada at all.
See for instance our article www.cmaj.ca/content/195/...
and this recent report from @stoptbcanada.bsky.social www.stoptbcanada.com/news/access-...

ISOPP Contributes to Global Health Policy

@isopporg.bsky.social Advocacy supports the 25th WHO Expert Committee on the Selection and Use of Essential Medicines report. www.isopp.org/article/isop...
#ISOPP #EssentialMedicines #WHO #OncologyPharmacy #GlobalHealth #AccessToMedicines

For more on barriers to accessing #EssentialMedicines 💊for #tuberculosis in Canada, see the report from @stoptbcanada.bsky.social earlier this year: "Access to Essential Tuberculosis Medicines in Canada: Insights from a National Survey of Healthcare Providers" www.stoptbcanada.com/news/access-...

Screenshot of heading "Canada’s Drug Agency Launches Consultation on a Proposed List of Essential Prescription Drugs and Related Products"

ICYMI Canada’s Drug Agency has a public consultation open until July 18 on a proposed list of essential prescription drugs and related products. 💊📜 www.cda-amc.ca/news/canadas...
Of note: There's a draft list of inclusions... and(👀)of exclusions. #Pharmacare #EssentialMedicines
🧵

Seems odd the only drug💊currently on #Canada's List of Drugs for an Urgent Public Health Need allowing bulk importation of an unapproved drug (& indeed the only drug to have always been on the list since its creation) is only getting a standard review?🤔 #rifapentine #tuberculosis #EssentialMedicines

MoHSS charts new course to strengthen medicine supply Niël Terblanché The ministry of health and social services convened its annual National Pharmaceutical Services Forum for 2025, focusing on better governance at regional levels and improving procurement systems to increase access to essential medicines across Namibia. The forum, hosted by the directorate of pharmaceutical services and the national medicines policy coordination division, was officially opened by the ministry’s executive director, Penda Ithindi, on behalf of health minister Esperance Luvindao. Ithindi said the forum comes at a time when there is renewed pressure to deliver the ministry’s core mandate more visibly.  He said the pharmaceutical sector and its value chains are central to that mandate. While acknowledging challenges such as limited resources, shifting disease patterns, and regulatory hurdles, Ithindi said the ministry has shifted from a reactive approach to a more proactive one in shaping the future of pharmaceutical services. He noted recent progress, including better availability of essential medicines at public health facilities.  “According to the Pharmaceutical Management Information System, 83% of essential items are now available at public facilities,” Ithindi said. He credited this to multiple sourcing strategies, long-term supply contracts, and direct procurement approvals for key items.  The ministry also received an exemption from the national procurement threshold, which enabled faster acquisition of critical medicines.  “Such enhanced procurement dispensation must be exercised prudently,” he said, calling for compliance with laws and procedures and a focus on value for money. The ministry also procured the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine for the public sector.  “The rollout of this vaccine signals a major step forward in the fight against cervical cancer and reflects our broader commitment to preventive care and the health of adolescent girls and young women,” said Ithindi. He also highlighted progress in forecasting and budget management.  “The quantification team, working closely with regional pharmacists, has continued to refine the national three-year rolling quantification process,” he said.  This approach has led to more accurate procurement planning, reduced waste, and better alignment between national supply and regional needs. The opening ceremony concluded with awards, recognising top-performing hospitals and regions. Okongo District Hospital was named the most improved hospital, while the Hardap region was awarded as the most improved region. The top three hospitals were Katutura Intermediate Hospital, Tsumeb District Hospital, and Windhoek Central Hospital.  For the third consecutive year, the Erongo region was recognised as the best-performing region, followed by Khomas and Ohangwena. Ithindi said discussions at the forum will shape future policies and strategies to improve pharmaceutical services in the country.

#MedicineSupply #HealthcareNamibia #Pharmaceuticals #HealthServices #EssentialMedicines