The African Union is taking steps to bring online the African Medicines Agency (AMA), a regulatory body designed to harmonize the approval of medicines across the continent. When fully operational, the AMA should speed up and simplify what is currently a lengthy drug registration process involving a patchwork of national regulators. AIDS Healthcare Foundation fully supports the AU in this initiative; however, access, equity and affordability must be central to AMA’s mandate.

“The need to conduct separate clinical trials and receive regulatory approval for the same drug from different countries on the continent has caused considerable delays in the past in bringing more effective and better-tolerated drugs to market in Africa,” said AHF Chief of Global Advocacy and Policy Terri Ford. “The interests of governments, the pharma industry, healthcare providers, and patients coincide in this instance – streamlined approval will get drugs to sick people faster, but decision makers must put in place safeguards to ensure that in a rush to new markets, the pharma industry doesn’t price out all but the wealthiest people across Africa from the latest medical innovations.”

About AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF)

AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to over 1.7 million people in 45 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Europe. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us on Twitter: @aidshealthcare and Instagram: @aidshealthcare.

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