Over 250 groups demand governments and manufacturers adopt critical principles to ensure timely access to tests, treatments and vaccines.

Whenever the topic of high medicine prices comes up, discussions often get very technical — buzzwords like ‘R&D costs’, ‘fair return on investment’ and ‘incentives’ are immediately thrown around.

While these terms come naturally to self-identifying policy geeks like me and we know the importance of these discussions, they risk blocking out the far bigger picture: the lives of patients.

Thankfully, every once in a while, a patient comes along to remind us and decision makers that while we debate the details of the perfect way to pay for medicines and conduct research and development, the status quo kills.