UK urges drug companies to give away HIV wonder-drugs

Thread view:

Enable EMail Alerts

Start New Thread

Thread rating:

Martin - 14 Jul 2009 00:51 GMT

I can see this latest idiotic idea from the UK government going down
well with big pharma.

<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/12/hiv-medicine-patents-drugs-companies>:

----- Begin Quote -----

Drug companies should give up their patent rights to HIV medicines to
help prevent the deaths of millions of people in poor countries, a
British government minister will say this week.

The international development minister, Mike Foster, will call on
pharmaceutical companies to put lives before profits, as the all-party
parliamentary group on Aids publishes a report this week detailing the
scale of the "treatment timebomb". By 2030, they estimate, 50 million
people will need new drugs, which are currently prohibitively
expensive, to keep them alive.

----- End Quote -----

And yes they really do estimate 50 million people will be popping HIV
wonder-drugs twenty years from now.

According to the World Health Organisation about 33% of HIVers need to
take live-saving HIV medication. Therefore they, presumably, estimate
there will be 150 million HIVers by 2030.

Signature

<http://www.hiv-poz.co.uk/>
5,296 days and counting...

Reply to this Message

Dank 110100100 - 14 Jul 2009 23:25 GMT

> I can see this latest idiotic idea from the UK government going down
> well with big pharma.
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> help prevent the deaths of millions of people in poor countries, a
> British government minister will say this week.

Without giving up their patent rights, U.S. drug companies 'donate'
HIV drugs to poor African countries, write the 'donation' off against
their taxes, then increase the price of the same HIV drugs for U.S.
consumers.

Abbott Labs recently tried this trick with Norvir, then increased the
U.S. price of Norvir by 400%. Abbott did not 'donate' anything, since
the cost of the Norvir it shipped to Africa was covered by the price
increase in the U.S., and really paid for by the U.S. government, who
pays for almost all AIDS treatment in this country. The American
taxpayers paid for Africa's drugs, and Abbott gets the credit and good
publicity for its 'charity.'

> The international development minister, Mike Foster, will call on
> pharmaceutical companies to put lives before profits, as the all-party
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
> <http://www.hiv-poz.co.uk/>
> 5,296 days and counting...

Reply to this Message