Novartis Rises to 2nd Place in the 2018 Access to Medicine Index

Novartis, which ranked 3rd in the 2016 Medicines Access Index, rose to 2nd place in 2018 through its ongoing efforts to improve access to health services globally.

The Novartis Access Principles, recently established by the company to address how to integrate access strategies into its global pharmaceutical research, development and distribution processes, are being evaluated as an innovative practice by the index.

Access targets are included in the individual business objectives of the Novartis Chief Executive Officer and Executive Committee members.

The index, which measures the performance of the world's 20 largest pharmaceutical companies in improving access to medicines and health services in developing countries, comprises seven categories: medicines access management, market impact and compliance, research and development, pricing, manufacturing and distribution, patents and licensing, capacity building and product donations.

Novartis Chief Executive Officer Vasant Narasimhan, stating that they are pleased to see their efforts to improve access to medicines and health services for patients with limited access to services recognized, said:

"Our rise to 2nd place in this index is an important indicator of how our approach has evolved from charitable work to a scalable and sustainable approach.

We are also reaping the benefits of our long-term efforts to systematically integrate the access component into our business model. There is a long way ahead and we remain committed to reaching our treatments to more patients in need."

Novartis regularly assesses its portfolio taking into account the unmet needs of underserved populations and the company has a dedicated unit working toward this goal.

With this effort, Novartis ranks 3rd in the research and development category of the Medicines Access Index. The company committed to a USD 100 million investment to develop new malaria medicines over the next 5 years.