Equitable and sustainable access to safe, effective, affordable, and quality-assured medicines and health products is critical to achieving universal health coverage. Despite this goal being shared by the public and private sectors, achieving it has proved difficult.

For pharmaceuticals, there is no explicit agreement or social contract in place that details the rights and duties of each stakeholder.

Patients, health systems, and governments expect to have the right to reasonably priced pharmaceuticals that meet their needs, while investors and the pharmaceutical industry expect to earn sufficient profit to compensate for the risks inherent in developing or manufacturing those medicines.

Striking this balance requires coherence between the public and private sectors on aspects such as public funding for research, legislation, regulation, tax incentives, grants, patent protection, participation in clinical trials, pricing, health technology assessment, and health system payment policies.

Through dialogue, the Oslo Medicines Initiative (OMI) aims to:

• reshape political discourse
• implement pragmatic step-by-step solutions
• create partnerships to build a movement for change.

The initiative is underpinned by 3 pillars including:

• solidarity, because there is strength in numbers
• transparency, promoting open and transparent decision-making
  
• sustainability, promoting sustainable industry and health systems.
  

Background 

Governments in the WHO European Region have increasingly voiced concern about high costs restricting access to potentially effective novel medicines.

While policy responses have often focused on short-term national cost containment, with implications for equity and access, several countries have collaborated on price negotiations and worked together to procure medicines.

At the 72nd World Health Assembly in 2019, governments adopted resolution WHA72.8 on improving the transparency of markets for medicines, vaccines and other health products.

This push for increased transparency and trust, and ultimately improved access for patients, requires action from both the public and private sectors and a reconsideration of their respective roles and responsibilities.

The OMI was conceived to help build an environment of mutual trust and cooperation between the pharmaceutical industry, governments and patients. The OMI will also collaborate with other initiatives implemented by WHO and intergovernmental organizations.