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The Issues
Treatment of malaria in migrant and refugee populations near the Thai-Burmese
border.
Artemsin-based combination therapies (ACT) are recommended against malaria, but
they are more
expensive than the increasingly ineffective chloroquine therapies.
(Credit: Shoklo Malaria Research Unit,
Mae Sot, Thailand) Blocked access to medicine
10 million people die needlessly each year because they do not have access to existing medicines and vaccines. One-third to one-half of the world's population has no access to appropriate essential medicines.
Cost is the major obstacle to treatment access in the developing world. In low and middle income countries most people pay out of pocket for health care, and essential medicines are often priced out of reach for those who need them.
Neglected areas of research
The 10/90 Gap: Only 10% of research and development funding is spent on diseases that affect 90% of the world's population. Pharmaceutical companies and research institutions neglect diseases which affect people in the developing world since treatments for such diseases are unlikely to be profitable.
Universities in the United States are responsible for more than half of the country's basic research science. An estimated forty to fifty percent of the drug industry's new products rely heavily upon recent academic research. We can and must take action to close the access gap!
Who we are
Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM) is a national organization dedicated to helping lifesaving medicines and technologies reach developing countries.
UAEM strives to pursue this goal by spreading awareness about access and research gaps, by promoting discussion and debate about this issue, by urging universities to adopt more equitable licensing policies, and by promoting research in neglected diseases. At UC Irvine, UAEM is building the case for equitable access licensing, increasing issue awareness and discussion and gathering support from various sources, especially in the School of Medicine.
We can make a difference. Working with students, researchers, universities, and companies, UAEM chapters around the country have already been influential in shaping licensing agreements for specific drugs and encouraging universities to adopt fair-access guidelines.
Find out more about drug licensing, our goals, and new developments on the rest of this site.