An organisation representing drug makers has once again highlighted the need for patients in the developing world to have proper access to medications.

Ensuring that people around the world can be given appropriate medications when required is an essential part of the World Health Organisation's objectives, with the organisation assembling its own intergovernmental working group on the issue of "addressing unmet developing world health needs: sustainable, practical solutions".

At its most recent meeting in Geneva, the group decided that more work needed to be done to formulate a strategy to tackle the problem of patient access before May 2008, when the next World Health Assembly will be held.

Dr Harvey Bale, the director general of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations, said: "While all of us are disappointed, the issue of
addressing unmet developing world health requires precise, pragmatic and sustainable solutions."

The group added that its members had already partnered with a number of organisations to improve access to medicine and said that firms should be encouraged to develop orphan drugs to help treat diseases affecting the developing world.

Global healthcare solutions provider Masters has many years of experience meeting the needs of patients in even the most isolated locations and currently distributes essential supplies in over 35 countries across the world.