Oxfam Urges Low Cost Drugs for Poor Countries
A report issued by the charity organisation Oxfam has highlighted the financial impact of the failure by drug manufacturers to produce affordable medications for the poorest countries in the world - saying that they are denying themselves access to a vast potential market.
Oxfam conceded in the report that "halting progress" has been made, but urged that much more action is necessary.
The globally dominant pharmaceutical firms have carried out only limited research into the diseases commonest amongst the world's poor, it stressed. And the situation is exacerbated by a tendency to stringently guard drug patents, denying a large number of poor people the medication they require.
At present, said the report, 85 per cent of the population of the world is effectively unable to afford the drugs needed.
Annually, one million people are lost to Malaria, while TB claims the lives of twice that.
Oxfam: Drugs Need to be More Affordable to Poor Nations
Consequently, said Oxfam, a tiered system needs to be implemented which is representative of the amount people around the world can afford to pay for their drugs. A selection of firms already have such a staggered initiative in place.
Frequently, however, the varying prices reflect solely "the publicity that surrounds the disease or the country", the report added.
During the five years from 1999 until 2004, 163 new drugs joined the market. A mere three of these were designed for diseases that are rife in poor countries.
The most prominent drug manufacturing firms contest that their pricing is justified when Research and Development costs - which can run into billions - are considered. Pharmacy up-pricing also acts to increase the cost.
Additionally, their products are frequently forged in nations with only minimal copyright protection taking place.
Drug Firms Missing Out by Not Pricing Products to Suit Poor Countries
However, the refusal by drug firms to offer these products at appropriate prices to countries unavailable to afford them at present means they are missing out, Oxfam said.
According to Sumi Dhanarajan - the Head of Research at Oxfam - "The industry is operating in a short-sighted way because it could gain enormous benefits from emerging markets, including lower development costs and cheaper manufacturing.
"Yet instead it continues to blindly use the same strategies in poor countries."
Source - Pharmaceutical International's Health Reporter
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