Novartis Access: a small step towards increased access for non-communicable disease care

Abstract

Pharmaceutical companies are often maligned for many of the limitations in medication access in low-income and middle-income countries. Furthermore, many of their efforts to support health-care delivery in these settings are viewed solely as efforts to improve public relations and are not typically subjected to the in-depth peer review that most health-care interventions receive before dissemination to the public. In The Lancet Global Health, Peter Rockers and colleagues1 present a necessary and timely evaluation of an industry-led initiative to improve medicine access, which helps to change this narrative and provides many lessons to others in the pharmaceutical industry who are embarking on similar access programmes.