The recent Ebola crisis in West Africa only underlines the imperative to collectively address the problems not only of access but also of innovation (see box 1). Indeed, for such reasons, Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 8 included a focus on improving access to affordable essential medicines in developing countries. The World Bank, for example, estimated a loss of about 12 per cent of gross domestic product for these three worst-affected countries in 2015.bThe Ebola crisis has thus underlined the urgent need for intensified international and national action to improve access to health care and medicines.