Third World Perspectives on Global Pharmaceutical Access
ETHICS AND THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY IN THE 21ST CENTURY, p. 336 Michael A. Santoro and Thomas M. Gorrie, eds., Cambridge University Press, 2005
16 Pages Posted: 14 Jun 2010
Date Written: 2005
Abstract
This paper has two objectives. First, it considers the argument pushed by pharmaceutical companies and the United States’ government that poverty is the most critical factor in preventing the production of affordable retroantivirals in the third world. The argument is considered against the background of three contributing factors: patent law protections, responsiveness by third world governments to the crises, and the reduction in funding for public health infrastructure.
The second objective is to consider the future of accessibility to retroantivirals. This is done by looking at the errors made thus far, and the policies in place. One example is the clear proof that patent law has been a factor in raising costs of drugs in the third world as proven by the increase in use of generic drugs. This undermines the claims by pharmaceutical companies and the U.S. government. As a result, other policies and assumptions must be called into question if the disastrous effects of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the third world are to be stopped.
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