Overview
- The analysis reviewed 172 FDA-approved medicines tested between 2015 and 2018 in nearly 90 countries and found a five-year authorization rate of 24% in trial-host nations.
- High-income countries saw greater physical availability of the tested medicines than upper- and lower-middle-income countries.
- The study highlights ethical concerns rooted in distributive justice, with researchers noting that existing international guidelines leave obligations poorly defined.
- Yale’s team plans to expand the Good Pharma Scorecard to include post-trial access metrics, citing prior evidence that public rankings can prompt rapid company improvements.
- Researchers are examining successful cases in Ethiopia and Uganda to extract policy lessons and are calling for coordinated action by drugmakers, governments, media, NGOs, and patient groups.