Table 1.
Essential medicines for cancer on the national essential medicines lists or
national reimbursable medicines lists of 135 countries, 2015
Medicine
No. of countries listing medicine (%)
On WHO 2013 Model List
Asparaginase
68 (50)
Bleomycin
94 (70)
Calcium folinate
84 (62)
Carboplatin
73 (54)
Chlorambucil
84 (62)
Cyclophosphamide
120 (89)
Cytarabine
88 (65)
Dacarbazine
73 (54)
Dactinomycin
67 (50)
Daunorubicin
55 (41)
Docetaxel
56 (42)
Doxorubicin
99 (73)
Etoposide
84 (62)
Fluorouracil
109 (81)
Hydroxycarbamide
88 (65)
Ifosfamide
60 (44)
Mercaptopurine
87 (64)
Mesna
53 (39)
Methotrexate
128 (95)
Paclitaxel
65 (48)
Procarbazine
62 (46)
Tamoxifen
112 (83)
Tioguanine
36 (27)
Vinblastine
83 (61)
Vincristine
111 (82)
Added to WHO Model List via 2015 revision
All-trans retinoic acid
a
19 (14)
Aromatase inhibitors
b
50 (37)
Bendamustine
1 (0.7)
Bicalutamide
38 (28)
Capecitabine
49 (36)
Cisplatin
97 (72)
Fludarabine
40 (30)
Gemcitabine
46 (34)
Granulocyte colony stimulating factors
c
63 (47)
Imatinib
40 (30)
Irinotecan
41 (30)
Leuprolin class
d
53 (39)
Oxaliplatin
49 (36)
Rituximab
34 (25)
Trastuzumab
26 (19)
Vinorelbine
37 (27)
Other medicines
e
Arsenic trioxide
2 (1)
Dasatinib
10 (7)
Diethylstilboestrol
6 (4)
Erlotinib
14 (10)
Gefitinib
9 (7)
Nilotinib
12 (9
