Not-for-Profit Organization for Management of Maximized Public Sector Benefits

Not-for-Profit Organization
for Management of Maximized Public Sector Benefits in Health Care

- Creator of Innovative Approaches to Intellectual Property Management
of Health Products for Improved Public Sector Access -
- Partner in Public-Private-Partnerships with Pharmaceutical Manufacturers -

Emergency Contraception           

Founding member of the ICEC

Emergency contraception is a safe and effective way to prevent unwanted pregnancy following unprotected intercourse. Unfortunately, EC is widely underutilized in many countries because few women know they have such an option. As a consequence, millions of unintended pregnancies occur every year. More important, morbidity and mortality from unsafe abortions continue to be ever-constant reminders of the dire need for this method and the use of ECPs worldwide.

In 1995, following a conference organized by the Rockefeller Foundation to address the concerns in preventing unwanted pregnancies, Concept Foundation became involved as a founding member in establishing the  International Consortium for Emergency Contraception. ICEC started out as an innovative collaboration among seven non-governmental and public sector organizations, committed to introducing a dedicated product for emergency contraception into the public and private sector markets of the developing world. Phase 1 of ICEC's work started with pilot introductions of Postinor-2® into four developing countries -Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, and Sri Lanka.

In conjunction with this endeavor and following a search for a commercial pharmaceutical company in the mid-'90s to be a supplier of an ECP at preferred public sector prices to the ICEC member organizations, Concept Foundation entered into a public-private-partnership with a pharmaceutical manufacturer and developed an agreement with Gedeon Richter, Hungary, to collaborate in introducing a dedicated emergency contraceptive product,
Postinor-2®.

This agreement between an international pharmaceutical company and a not-for-profit foundation represented a groundbreaking and unique partnership. The terms included initially the provision of Postinor-2® to public sector health services in over 37 developing countries (additional countries were added later). Public sector/social marketing doses are to be provided by Gedeon Richter at a preferential price for public health services in developing countries. In exchange, Concept Foundation provides technical assistance to Gedeon Richter by assessing both public and private sector market demand; determining regulatory requirements and assisting with drug regulatory approval and registration in developing countries; analyzing and identifying local distribution agents, if required, with the most appropriate distribution systems in both the private and the public sector of developing countries; and assisting Gedeon Richter with introduction efforts.

Because of its unique experience in registering and marketing products in both the private and public sector markets in many developing countries, Concept Foundation has also been playing a critical role as an intermediary between the ICEC, as public sector not-for-profit partner, and Gedeon Richter, as commercial private sector partner, by bridging the gap between "both worlds", and finding workable solutions for a successful collaboration to the benefit of public health services in developing countries.

Concept Foundation's success in managing this partnership with the company is a model for all such future public-private-partnerships, demonstrating the sustainability of Concept Foundation's business and management model. This model is the platform for the continued and sustainable provision of a low-cost, quality ECP to public health services reaching women in developing countries worldwide.