On 3 February 2020, Swissmedic and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) signed a new finance agreement. Under the terms of this agreement, both parties commit to supporting supervisory authorities in low-resource countries for a further three years, thereby improving access to healthcare in the participating countries. This commitment is aligned with the Swiss Health Foreign Policy.
Finance agreement signed for a further three years
06.03.2020
The cooperation between Swissmedic and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) is based on the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in January 2014 by the Foundation, the Federal Department of Home Affairs (FDHA) and the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) with the aim of strengthening the regulatory systems in low-income countries, thereby improving and accelerating access to healthcare and medicines. Its focus is on countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The overall aim of the project is to bring high-quality, life-saving medicines to patients as quickly as possible.
Swissmedic and the BMGF signed their first finance agreement in December 2015. Since then, Swissmedic, the three parties to the MoU and the World Health Organization (WHO) have developed a programme consisting of three project components:
- Project component I: Support for the implementation of the African Medicines Regulatory Harmonization (AMRH) Programme (Link)
- Project component II: Swissmedic procedure for scientific advice and Marketing Authorisation for Global Health Products (MAGHP) (Link)
- Project component III: Swissmedic training for regulatory authorities in low-income countries (Link)
The renewal of the finance agreement is of strategic importance to Swissmedic. The project components that are already under way and the development cooperation can therefore continue for the longer term.
Further information on this subject can be found via the following link: