Cancer medicines on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines: processes, challenges, and a way forward

Kristina Jenei, Zeba Aziz, Christopher Booth, Bernadette Cappello, Francesco Ceppi, Elisabeth G E de Vries, Antonio Fojo, Bishal Gyawali, Andre Ilbawi, Dorothy Lombe, Manju Sengar, Richard Sullivan, Dario Trapani, Benedikt D Huttner, Lorenzo Moja*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)
2 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The selection of cancer medicines for national procurement requires deliberate evaluation of population benefit, budget impact, sustainability, and health system capacity. However, this process is complicated by numerous challenges, including the large volume and rapid pace of newly developed therapies offering marginal gains at prohibitively high prices. The WHO Model List of Essential Medicines (EML) and Model List of Essential Medicines for Children (EMLc) have undergone a series of evidence-based updates to ensure recommended cancer medicines offer meaningful clinical benefit. This Health Policy paper describes how cancer medicines are listed on the EML and EMLc, including two updated WHO processes: (1) the formation of the Cancer Medicines Working Group, and (2) additional selection principles for recommending cancer medicines, including a minimum overall survival benefit of 4-6 months with improvement to quality of life compared with standard treatment. These updates, along with proposals to include formal price considerations, additional selection criteria, and multisectoral collaboration (eg, voluntary licensing) promote procurement of high-value essential cancer medicines on national formularies in the context of supporting sustainable health systems to achieve universal health coverage.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)e1860-e1866
Number of pages7
JournalThe Lancet Global Health
Volume10
Issue number12
Early online date29-Sept-2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1-Dec-2022

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