As cases of diabetes continue to rise in low- and middle-income countries, it’s encouraging that another form of insulin—rapid-acting insulin analogues—and GLP-1 agonists have been added to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Model List of Essential Medicines (EML), said Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
When a medicine is added to the WHO’s EML, it signals that it is vital for public health and should be made affordable and accessible, that countries should include it in national policies, and that corporations should register it in-country so more people can access it. Currently, rapid-acting insulins and GLP-1s are generally unaffordable and often unavailable in the places MSF operates.
Rapid-acting insulin analogues and GLP-1s help manage blood sugar levels, reducing the likelihood of potential diabetes-related health complications and the need for additional care—something that can be difficult to access for people in low- and middle-income countries.
Dr. Elizabeth Jarman, non-communicable diseases technical advisor for MSF Access, said of the announcement:
“We welcome the inclusion of rapid-acting insulin analogues and GLP-1 agonists to the World Health Organization’s Model List of Essential Medicines as a critical milestone on the path towards increasing access to diabetes treatment.
"Countries must now take this opportunity to spur national action and make these treatments available and affordable to people with diabetes, no matter where in the world they live.
"In our experience of providing diabetes care in low-resource settings and humanitarian emergencies, rapid-acting insulins and GLP-1s are unaffordable and often unavailable. Current prices are unacceptably high, with rapid-acting insulin analogues priced as much as 75 times and GLP-1 agonists 400 times higher than what they can be profitably produced for, according to a recent MSF study.
"We call on countries to take urgent steps to update their national EMLs, begin procurement planning, and—alongside the WHO—demand pharmaceutical corporations make these key diabetes treatments available in-country by immediately registering them and making them affordable.”
