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The United Nations Health Agency, the WHO, announced Tuesday that dozens of new drugs had been added to the list of essential drugs that each country should have, including new cancer treatments that could be swallowed rather than by injection.
More than 150 countries use the UN's list of essential medicines, which contain about 460 medicines considered essential for addressing public health needs. This latest update adds 28 products for adults and 23 for children, and specifies new uses for 26 products already listed, based on value for money, evidence and impact on health.
From cancer and arthritis to life-threatening bleeds: essential treatments for all
According to the WHO, the five cancer treatments added to the list are considered "the best in terms of survival rates" to treat melanoma, lung, blood and prostate cancers.
They include two recently developed immunotherapies – nivolumab and pembrolizumab – that have achieved survival rates of up to 50% for advanced melanoma, an incurable skin cancer until recently.
"The inclusion in this list of some of the latest and most advanced cancer drugs is a strong statement that everyone deserves to have access to these life-saving drugs, not just those who can afford them." "Said Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, Director General of WHO.
Other updates to the list include new oral anticoagulants intended to prevent stroke, as an alternative to warfarin therapy for deep vein thrombosis. These are "particularly advantageous" for low-income countries, according to the WHO, because, unlike warfarin, they do not require regular monitoring.
In addition, the agency's committee has also advised countries to provide new products to treat chronic inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease.
Life-threatening bleeding after delivery was also addressed in the update of this year's list of essential drugs, with the proposal to use carbetocin rather than the currently used treatment, oxytocin.
"This new formulation has effects similar to those of oxytocin … but offers benefits for tropical countries because it does not require refrigeration," said the WHO in a statement.
Updates on critical diagnostics too
Meanwhile, the UN Health Agency has also updated its list of essential diagnoses, recognizing the critical importance of saving lives to find out what's wrong with patients before it's too late.
The first list, published last year, focused on a limited number of priority diseases such as HIV, malaria, tuberculosis and hepatitis. This year's list includes more noncommunicable and communicable diseases. In total, WHO has added 12 tests to the list of diagnostics essential for detecting a wide range of solid tumors such as colorectal, hepatic, cervical, prostate, bad and germ cell cancers, as well as leukemia and leukemia. lymphomas.
The list focuses on other infectious diseases prevalent in low- and middle-income countries such as cholera and neglected diseases such as leishmaniasis, schistosomiasis, dengue and zika.
The list has also been expanded to include other general tests for various diseases and conditions, such as iron tests – for anemia – and diagnostic tests for thyroid dysfunction and sickle cell disease, a very common practice. widespread in sub-Saharan Africa.
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