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Access to medications and conducting clinical trials in LMICs

Nature Reviews Nephrology volume 11, pages 189–194 (2015)Cite this article

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Abstract

Access to essential medications is limited in many low-to-middle income countries (LMICs) and those that are available may be prohibitively expensive to the general population. Clinical trials have been suggested as an approach to improve drug access in LMICs but the number of trials conducted in these countries is small because of regulatory issues and a lack of infrastructure. In this article, Nature Reviews Nephrology asks three experts their opinions on how to improve drug access and increase the numbers of clinical trials conducted in LMICs.

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Figure 1: Studies on chronic kidney disease registered at clinicaltrials.gov on 27 October 2014.14

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Acknowledgements

F.V.'s work is supported by The U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, Department of Medicine, Groote Schuur Hospital and University of Cape Town, Observatory, 7925, Cape Town, South Africa

    Ikechi G. Okpechi & Charles R. Swanepoel

  2. Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, PO Box 2616, Saxonwold, 2132, South Africa

    Francois Venter

Authors
  1. Ikechi G. Okpechi
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  2. Charles R. Swanepoel
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  3. Francois Venter
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Ikechi G. Okpechi, Charles R. Swanepoel or Francois Venter.

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Competing interests

I.G.O. has received travel grants from Roche and Adcock-Ingram. C.R.S. is the Medical Advisor of Fresenius Medical Care, South Africa. He has received honoraria and travel grants from Roche, Amgen, Sanofi and Abbott. F.V. has received speaking fees from Abbot, Gilead, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Aspen and Adcock Ingram, and is on advisory boards for Mylan and Johnson & Johnson.

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Okpechi, I., Swanepoel, C. & Venter, F. Access to medications and conducting clinical trials in LMICs. Nat Rev Nephrol 11, 189–194 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneph.2015.6

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