Tackling reimbursement challenges to fair access to medicines - introduction to the topic.

In this work we tried attempted to outline fair access policies towards reimbursed medicines in a historical manner by researching the measures accepted during different time periods by governments that affect patient access. From the review, it is evident that the countries are following similar models with a focus on pricing measures, reimbursement measures and measures directly affecting the patients. It is our opinion that most of the measures are focused on ensuring the sustainability of the payer's funds and less are those that stimulate faster access. Even worse we found that studies that are measuring the real patients access, and affordability are scarce.