Access to Medicines and Vaccines Is about Much More Than Price

"To be successful, we need to be as innovative in our approaches to patient access as we are in the scientific discovery and development of medicines and vaccines themselves."

That's how pharmaceutical giant Sanofi frames the future of health care in a new op-ed in the New York Times.

The company's vision is a world where all people have access to affordable health care, and it wants to do that by making drugs more affordable in low- and middle-income countries.

To that end, it's putting its money where its mouth is: It's setting up a not-for-profit unit in sub-Saharan Africa to make vaccines and other medicines more affordable there.

The initiative is part of Sanofi's "A Healthier World" plan, which also calls for the company to work with governments and insurers to bring affordable drugs to those who need them the most.

"The return on investment in innovation is significant for health systems and economies," the company says in its op-ed.

"To be successful, we need to be as innovative in our approaches to patient access as we are in the scientific discovery and development of medicines and vaccines themselves."

In the case of vaccines, that means making them cheaper in places like sub-Saharan Africa, where

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