This week, 21-26 October 2018, two Community Advisory Boards (CABs) hosted by ITPC MENA and ITPC LATCA supported local activists from 22 countries to meet with pharmaceutical companies and discuss treatment access issues.

A community advisory board is a formalized mechanism used to promote community and civil society engagement and representation in clinical trials and drug development dialogues with pharmaceutical companies. CABs also focus on empowering community activists to work in this space through capacity development and training.

The LATCA CAB, which was held 21-23 October in Panama City, Panama, welcomed activists from Panama, Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela, El Salvador, Chile, Peru, Dominican Republic, Bolivia, Honduras, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Guatemala.
The MENA CAB, which was held 24-26 October in Marrakech, Morocco, welcomed activists from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Mauritania, Egypt, Lebanon, Pakistan, and Jordan.
 
 

Both CABs were established last year and continue to build momentum for treatment access dialogues in their respective regions.
The coordination of these regional CABs will also feed into the anticipated World CAB, to be hosted by ITPC in 2019. Following in the footsteps of the last World CAB hosted by ITPC in New Delhi in 2008, the 2019 World CAB will review progress and challenges over the last ten years and outline next steps for addressing treatment access issues globally.

Learn more about intellectual property barriers through our Make Medicines Affordable campaign.