HIV,TB ,Cancer drugs now on essential medicines list

Jun 07, 2017

The updated list adds 30 medicines for adults and 25 for children, and specifies new uses for 9 already-listed products, bringing the total to 433 drugs

Medicines for HIV, hepatitis C, tuberculosis and leukaemia have now been added on the World Health Organisation (WHO) Model list of essential medicines for 2017

The organisation has also added new advice on which antibiotics to use for common infections and which to preserve for the most serious circumstances.

The updated list adds 30 medicines for adults and 25 for children, and specifies new uses for 9 already-listed products, bringing the total to 433 drugs deemed essential for addressing the most important public health needs, a press release issued from Geneva has said.

"The WHO Essential Medicines List (EML) is used by many countries to increase access to medicines and guide decisions about which products they ensure are available for their populations," the release dated June 6, 2017 said.

The WHO Model list of essential medicines was launched in 1977, coinciding with the endorsement by governments at the World Health Assembly of "Health for all" as the guiding principle for WHO and countries' health policies.

Many countries have adopted the concept of essential medicines and have developed lists of their own, using the EML as a guide. The EML is updated and revised every two years by the WHO Expert Committee on the Selection and Use of Essential Medicines.

The press release revealed that the updated EML includes several new drugs, such as two oral cancer treatments, a new pill for hepatitis C that combines two medicines, a more effective treatment for HIV as well as an older drug that can be taken to prevent HIV infection in people at high risk, new pediatric formulations of medicines for tuberculosis, and pain relievers.

"In the biggest revision of the antibiotics section in the EML's 40-year history, WHO experts have grouped antibiotics into three categories - access, watch and reserve, with recommendations on when each category should be used," the release said.

It added that initially, the new categories apply only to antibiotics used to treat 21 of the most common general infections. If shown to be useful, it could be broadened in future versions of the EML to apply to drugs to treat other infections.

WHO recommends that antibiotics in the ACCESS group be available at all times as treatments for a wide range of common infections.
 
The WATCH group includes antibiotics that are recommended as first- or second-choice treatments for a small number of infections.

The third group, RESERVE, includes antibiotics such as colistin and some cephalosporins that should be considered last-resort options, and used only in the most severe circumstances when all other alternatives have failed, such as for life-threatening infections due to multidrug-resistant bacteria.

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