Patients
Novartis puts patients first. We want to create value for all patients, including those who cannot afford treatment. In 2007 our access-to-medicines programmes, reached 66 million patients globally. We believe that the ability of Novartis to contribute to improvements in healthcare emanates from our normal business activities – discovering, developing and increasing access to innovative products that cure disease, ease suffering and enhance quality of life. Novartis has established a number of health-related programmes aimed at improving access to medicines in South Africa and other developing countries. In the developing world, we extend free leprosy and tuberculosis treatment and offer our anti-malarial drug without profit through multilateral institutions and public-private partnerships. The fight against leprosy is a major public health success. Novartis provides high-quality drugs free of charge to all leprosy patients in the world through the World Health Organisation (WHO), curing 4.5 million patients since 2000. In 2007, the Leprosy Mission of South Africa presented Novartis with a certificate of recognition for the outstanding contribution made to leprosy patients in South Africa and neighbouring countries.
GIPAP, one of the most comprehensive and far-reaching patient assistance programmes ever implemented on a global scale, provides cancer treatment at no cost to eligible patients, if not covered by medical insurance or lacking financial resources. On World Malaria Day (25 April) in 2008, in alignment with our commitment to improve access to health care in developing countries, Novartis announced an average 20% price reduction for malaria medication. This lowered price applies to the public sector in malaria-endemic developing countries like South Africa, and increases access to a life-saving treatment for millions of malaria patients, especially children, in low-income regions of Africa.
Learn more about the Novartis commitment to treating malaria