Novartis Access shares one-year learnings and announces new agreement with Rwanda
Novartis has signed a memorandum of understanding with Rwanda concerning Novartis Access – the third country to do so after Kenya and Ethiopia.
The agreement contributes to the Rwandan government strategy of increasing investment in prevention, diagnosis and treatment of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). First Novartis Access product deliveries are expected in early 2017.
The announcement was made during an event on Improving Care for Chronic Patients in Lower-Income Countries, hosted by Novartis Access and the Novartis Foundation.
Novartis Access is a portfolio of 15 on- and off-patent medicines against key chronic diseases. It is offered to governments and public-sector customers at a price of USD 1 per treatment per month. Novartis Access is integrated within Novartis Social Business, a unit that includes the Novartis Malaria Initiative and the Novartis Healthy Family programs. This unit is operationally managed by Sandoz.
As an innovative social business, Novartis Access was recently recognized as best practice in the 2016 Access to Medicine Index.