Contact: Sinead Cook
07800978843
s0453907@sms.ed.ac.uk

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 19, 2008

Edindurgh University Students’ Association votes to support the fight for global access to medicines

Today, February 19th, Edinburgh University Students’ Association (EUSA) voted to support Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM) in their fight to ensure Edinburgh University makes lifesaving medicines developed in their laboratories accessible to the developing world. This decision followed mounting pressure from students and staff who support the UAEM two-fold mission:
Firstly, to ensure every relevant university-developed drug is licensed with a strategy to make affordable versions available in developing countries; and secondly to increase university research on neglected diseases and university licensing practices that facilitates development of promising neglected disease treatments.

Josh MacAlister (EUSA president) reinforced his and EUSA’s commitment to supporting UAEM’s mission when he said “Universities have an important role in addressing the barriers to access to medicine in poorer countries. By adopting access-minded policies like those suggested by UAEM, Edinburgh could set a precedent for other UK universities. As the students’ representative body, EUSA is committed to ensuring that our university recognises these principles.”

According to the World Health Organization, ten million people – most of them in developing countries – die needlessly every year because they do not have access to existing medicines and vaccines. Lack of access is attributable to many factors, one of which is the high price of medicines.

Increasing numbers of people in developing countries suffer from neglected tropical diseases such as sleeping sickness, lymphatic filariasis, and blinding trachoma. These neglected diseases predominantly affect the poor. Consequently, they attract very little research and development funding (it is estimated that only 10% of research funding goes into diseases affecting 90% of the worlds population), leading directly to a paucity of safe and effective treatment options. There is a dire need for comprehensive solutions to increase both access to existing medicines and research on neglected diseases.

UAEM believes that universities are in an opportune position to devise these solutions and, furthermore, that they have a responsibility to do so. University scientists are major contributors in the drug development pipeline. At the same time, universities are committed to the creation and dissemination of knowledge in the public interest. Edinburgh University states that it aims “to contribute to society, promoting health, economic and cultural wellbeing”.

In order to achieve its mission, UAEM has devised The Philadelphia Consensus Statement, which proposes three major changes to university policies on health-related innovations. Universities should:

• Promote equal access to research.
• Promote research and development for neglected diseases.
• Measure research success according to impact on human welfare.

The Philadelphia Consensus Statement has been endorsed by over a hundred top scientists and public health luminaries, as well as thousands of students and others at 135 Universities around the world. Signatories included several Nobel Laureates, a South African Supreme Court Justice, and international public health leaders such as Paul Farmer, Maria Angell and Jeffrey Sachs.

Universitied Allied for Essential Medicines-Edinburgh Unviersity (UAEM-EU).
Our Labs. Our Drugs. Our Responsibility.