The Drug Access Team (DAT) leads CHAI’s efforts to improve the marketplace for AIDS drugs and other essential medicines across the developing world. The DAT works with partners to lower drug prices, ensure high-quality production, and facilitate the introduction and uptake of new products. Until recently, the DAT had focused almost exclusively on antiretroviral drugs for HIV/AIDS treatment. However, the DAT has more recently begun to work on artemisinin combination therapies (ACTs) for the treatment of malaria, and will continue to evaluate opportunities to improve market dynamics for other essential medicines.

CHAI believes that global markets can efficiently and affordably supply critical commodities like HIV/AIDS drugs in the presence of healthy competition and appropriate regulation. Yet markets cannot operate optimally without cooperation and information flow among manufacturers, purchasers, regulators, and other key participants. CHAI works with this range of actors to shape the evolution of the marketplace for essential medicines.

Since 2002, CHAI has been helping to transform the antiretroviral marketplace from a low-volume, high-margin market to a high-volume, low-margin market that serves millions of HIV/AIDS patients. The hallmark of CHAI’s approach is simultaneous and intensive engagement on the demand and supply sides of the market. On the demand side, CHAI’s country teams help governments to overcome operational barriers to scaling up HIV/AIDS treatment programs, and also support the adoption of better procurement and supply chain management practices. Meanwhile, CHAI establishes close partnerships with both branded and generic drug manufacturers and provides a range of support to its partner suppliers. This assistance includes demand forecasting and other market intelligence, technical support for production and sourcing, and support for quality assurance. Though the work on marketplace improvements is organization-wide, the DAT plays the lead role in managing relationships with partner suppliers and coordinating the flow of information between the demand and supply sides of the market.

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