ITPCru ceases its participation in the EECA CAB in favor of its own project activities and from now on work of the EECA CAB will be coordinated by the ECUO.
Note that the ECUO and ITPCru which in 2009 jointly initiated establishment of the Community Advisory Board of Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA CAB), in August 2017 announced changes in the organizational structure of the platform management.
In an official statement it is said that a mutual decision on the division of activities is connected with divergent views regarding the directions of EECA CAB further development in general. This does not mean the termination of cooperation and bilateral support between the ECUO, it is suggested that the partners will develop their own sites in order to increase advocacy efforts as well as the coverage of relevant stakeholders.
“The main issues to be discussed during the upcoming EECA CAB in November are the enhancing of access to use innovative drugs for the treatment of HIV, use of capacities of the Patent Pool, the greater involvement of government officials from EECA countries as well as involvement of representatives of international organizations and the community. You are welcome to contact ECUO Secretariat (write to luntura@ecuo.org) regarding cooperation and participation in the EECA CAB.”- said Vladimir Zhovtyak, President of the ECUO.
The next EECA CAB meeting is appointed for November 2017. Activities related to preparation of the meeting have been started and are coordinated by ECUO International Community Secretariat.
The full text of the official joint statement made by the ECUO and ITPCru:
“Good afternoon to everyone.
In 2009, ITPCru and the ECUO jointly initiated the establishment of the of the Community Advisory Board of Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA CAB) which brought together good practices concerning cooperation between the patient community, pharmaceutical companies, agencies for drug regulation and for other market participants.
This initiative provided the impetus to improving access to HIV and Hepatitis treatment in the EECA region. 12 EECA CAB meetings with participation of the representatives of such pharmaceutical companies as ViiV, AbbVie, Merck / MSD, Roche, Janssen, Gilead, BMS, Pharmasyntez, Biocad, the Patent Pool have been conducted since that time. Training events on drug quality clinical trial, intellectual property issues, drug production, pricing and community mobilization to improve access to treatment have been held.
For the moment we have different approaches to the development of EECA CAB, thus, it was decided to continue to act separately. This does not mean the termination of cooperation and providing assistance, this means only enhancing our capacity and cutting down the processing time spent for coordinating actions.
Grigory Vergus Vladimir Zhovtyak
ITPCru President of ECUO»
16.08.2017