Bibek Aryal, Surgeon-Scientist, Independent Researcher in Cancer Outcomes, shared a post on LinkedIn:
“A patient in a remote district hospital qualifies, on paper, for a breakthrough targeted therapy.
The trial data is strong. The global guidelines agree.
But the diagnostic test doesn’t exist in that facility. The cold chain doesn’t exist in that region. The pharmacist who used to prepare the infusion left the country.
The medicine is deemed ‘essential.’ It just isn’t reachable.
This is the reality across much of the Global South-not the exception.
This week in JAMA Oncology, together with Ophira Ginsburg and Dario Trapani, we responded to the Viewpoint by Kristina Jenei and Richard Sullivan on the 2025 WHO Essential Medicines List.
We argue that a therapy that cannot reach the patient is not merely inaccessible – it is, in that context, low-value.
We called it the missing dimension.
This comment is just the beginning of a much larger conversation we are building to redefine value in resource-constrained settings.”
Title: Implementing Cancer Medicines on the WHO Model Lists of Essential Medicines Into National Systems
Authors: Kristina Jenei and Richard Sullivan
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Other articles about Bibek Aryal on OncoDaily.