ArticleBMJ global health2018
Estimated costs of production and potential prices for the WHO Essential Medicines List.
Article in BMJ global health, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 43 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
43 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
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- The availability, cost, and affordability of essential medicines for asthma and COPD in low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review.The Lancet. Global health · 2022Pooled it
- Trial
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- Transnational Criminal Enterprise: a Qualitative Social Network Analysis of the Production and Trade in Falsified Medicines.Archives europeennes de sociologie. European journal of sociology. Europaisches Archiv fur Soziologie · 2025Article
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- The global economic burden of antibiotic-resistant infections and the potential impact of bacterial vaccines: a modelling study.BMJ global health · 2025Article
- Country of origin and prices of systemic antibiotics in Vietnam: a multicentre retrospective study.JAC-antimicrobial resistance · 2025Article
- Impact of equivalent units of production on state-controlled unit cost calculation for fair pricing of pharmaceuticals: a scoping review.Journal of pharmaceutical policy and practice · 2025Review
- Estimating a Drug's Price After Loss of Exclusivity as a Function of Its Cost of Goods Sold.Applied health economics and health policy · 2025Article
- Pharmacoeconomic perspectives on HIV: integrating data for long-term treatment and prevention.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Review
- Assessment of HIV Infection in HIV Patients Admitted to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad, Pakistan.AIDS research and treatment · 2025Article
- Towards planetary boundary sustainability of food processing wastewater, by resource recovery & emission reduction: A process system engineering perspective.Carbon Capture Science & Technology · 2024Review
- Advancements in Aqueous Two-Phase Systems for Enzyme Extraction, Purification, and Biotransformation.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Estimated Sustainable Cost-Based Prices for Diabetes Medicines.JAMA network open · 2024Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionThere are persistent gaps in access to affordable medicines. The WHO Model List of Essential Medicines (EML) includes medicines considered necessary for functional health systems.
methodsA generic price estimation formula was developed by reviewing published analyses of cost of production for medicines and assuming manufacture in India, which included costs of formulation, packaging, taxation and a 10% profit margin. Data on per-kilogram prices of active pharmaceutical ingredient exported from India were retrieved from an online database. Estimated prices were compared with the lowest globally available prices for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria medicines, and current prices in the UK, South Africa and India.
resultsThe estimation formula had good predictive accuracy for HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria medicines. Estimated generic prices ranged from US$0.01 to US$1.45 per unit, with most in the lower end of this range. Lowest available prices were greater than estimated generic prices for 214/277 (77%) comparable items in the UK, 142/212 (67%) in South Africa and 118/298 (40%) in India. Lowest available prices were more than three times above estimated generic price for 47% of cases compared in the UK and 22% in South Africa.
conclusionA wide range of medicines in the EML can be profitably manufactured at very low cost. Most EML medicines are sold in the UK and South Africa at prices significantly higher than those estimated from production costs. Generic price estimation and international price comparisons could empower government price negotiations and support cost-effectiveness calculations.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.