Consolidating Pharmaceutical Purchasing Globally: A Pragmatic Approach to Trade in Essential Health Products?

The benefits of consolidating pharmaceutical procurement across national boundaries are multiple: 1) reductions in unit purchase prices; 2) improved quality assurance (through preventive screening out of substandard and counterfeit products); 3) reduction or elimination of procurement corruption; 4) rationalized choice through better-informed selection and standardization; 5) economies of scale in procurement operational efficiency; 6) increased equity between members; 7) strengthening the degree of pragmatism in the role of the host public institution. Despite the potential benefits of consolidating purchasing power, there are many barriers to inter-country collaboration, from language and politics to geographic distance and the stability of national monetary systems. However, key barriers are eliminated when the procurement mechanism is established within a regional or international public institution. This presentation summarizes some of the key characteristics and the history of the new global pharmaceutical trade mechanisms that procure contraceptives or “new essential drugs,” primarily for developing countries, including the Affordable Medicines Facility (AMF) being developed by the Global Fund for HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria, and the Global Financing and Procurement Mechanism for Reproductive Health Supplies being developed by the Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition, among others. The potential impact of these mechanisms on access to essential commodities and quality assurance at the country-level will be discussed. In addition, the degree to which their design has been influenced by the pharmaceutical industry, or their operations may gradually influence the pharmaceutical industry will be explored.