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Access to Medicines

Law Centre for Health and Life

Recent events (ex. Coronavirus pandemics, medicines shortages, high medicines prices) pose a danger to public health and threaten the fabric of our social and economic wellbeing. Law and regulation are tools to incentivize the development and production of new medicines, control their safety and price, and ensure they are allocated fairly to all who need them. However, unresolved tensions in trade and pharmaceutical law and governance can lead to profiteering, ‘vaccine nationalism’, and other policy responses.

This research line aims to improve access to new, safe, and affordable medicines for global health needs. Using the Covid-19 pandemic, antimicrobial resistance, universal health coverage, and other case studies, this research line explores regulatory and governance responses through different legal lenses (ex. human/fundamental rights, public health law, etc.), and makes innovative proposals to address persistent tensions in this field. This research line combines legal, regulatory, and ethical approaches to guide the action of states and the private sector towards equitable development, marketing, procurement, and allocation of medicines.

One PhD project in this research line is nested in the multidisciplinary Horizon 2020 INDIGO project that aims to develop two influenza vaccine concepts with better efficacy, lower costs and better accessibility than existing alternatives. INDIGO combines the development of two innovative vaccine concepts for the seasonal flu with novel legal and regulatory proposals for vaccine approval and procurement. INDIGO is coordinated by the interdisciplinary research institute, the Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development (AIGHD), and it involves public and private R&D organisations in the EU, India and United States. The PhD project examines the potential opportunities and barriers for scaling-up and rolling-out next generation influenza vaccines. The PhD project aims to critically examine the regulatory pathways from development to purchasing and end-user access within EU-India relations.

Support

  • European Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme (H2020-SC1-2019-Single-Stage-RTD, Grant No. 874653)
  • World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe (via Medicines Law & Policy)

Affiliated researchers

Dr. S.K. (Katrina) Perehudoff

Faculty of Law

Gezondheidsrecht

Prof. dr. mr. A. (Anniek) de Ruijter

Faculty of Law

Gezondheidsrecht

P. (Pramiti) Parwani

Faculty of Law

Gezondheidsrecht