TY - JOUR
T1 - Cancer medicines on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines
T2 - processes, challenges, and a way forward
AU - Jenei, Kristina
AU - Aziz, Zeba
AU - Booth, Christopher
AU - Cappello, Bernadette
AU - Ceppi, Francesco
AU - de Vries, Elisabeth G E
AU - Fojo, Antonio
AU - Gyawali, Bishal
AU - Ilbawi, Andre
AU - Lombe, Dorothy
AU - Sengar, Manju
AU - Sullivan, Richard
AU - Trapani, Dario
AU - Huttner, Benedikt D
AU - Moja, Lorenzo
N1 - Copyright © 2022 World Health Organization; licensee Elsevier. This is an Open Access article published under the CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO license which permits users to download and share the article for non-commercial purposes, so long as the article is reproduced in the whole without changes, and provided the original source is properly cited. This article shall not be used or reproduced in association with the promotion of commercial products, services or any entity. There should be no suggestion that WHO endorses any specific organisation, products or services. The use of the WHO logo is not permitted. This notice should be preserved along with the article's original URL.
PY - 2022/12/1
Y1 - 2022/12/1
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
U2 - 10.1016/S2214-109X(22)00376-X
DO - 10.1016/S2214-109X(22)00376-X
M3 - Review article
C2 - 36183737
SN - 2214-109X
VL - 10
SP - e1860-e1866
JO - The Lancet Global Health
JF - The Lancet Global Health
IS - 12
ER -