Thinking outside the vat (box)? New approaches to manufacture insulin: an opportunity to address global access to insulin

Access to insulin especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) remains problematic despite its discovery and first use over a century ago. Work carried out by the Division of Tropical and Humanitarian Medicine (DTHM) at the University of Geneva in collaboration with Health Action International (HAI) as part of the Addressing the Challenge and Constraints of Insulin Sources and Supply (ACCISS) Study, has documented various factors resulting in insulin being unavailable and unaffordable to many individuals and health systems. Many of these factors relate to the insulin market and “down-stream” elements such as pricing, procurement, organization of the health system and delivery of diabetes care.

However, little has been discussed about changes to the way that insulin could be manufactured and what impact this might have on the global insulin market.

The aim of this webinar, to be held at 09:00-11:00 Central European Time on the 29th of September hosted by the DTHM’s NCD Policy Lab, is to present and discuss novel ways of manufacturing insulin and see what potential these innovations may hold with regards to changing access to insulin for individuals with diabetes.

Three examples of disruptions in insulin manufacturing (Ilya Vensky, CEO and Founder, Helico Bio; Xavier Frapaise, Clinical Consultant, Bio-Sourcing and Alex Kelly, Founding Director, NeoSynBio) will be presented followed by a Q&A session with the audience. The webinar will then include insights from leaders in the area of access to medicines and diabetes.