The Pharmaceutical Industry and the AIDS Crisis in Developing Countries

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HIV/AIDS, the latest, contemporary disease that is afflicting and devastating millions, about thirty-five million of the world’s population, a little less than one percent, of which seventy percent inhabits the continent of Africa, where a great many developing countries are found. HIV, a sexually transmitted disease that discards the infector’s immune system, many of which die less than a year, may be acquired through several paths: blood, semen, breast milk, vaginal fluids, and rectal mucous (Aids.gov). 2001 witnessed a devastating, unparalleled commotion of occurrences that ultimately generated the epidemic, as opposed to a mere couple thousand in the 1960s, which created an passionate, vigilant awareness by the international public and fabricated an amazing phenomenon that established a common ground between nations, rich and poor alike, in the care and treatment of those living with HIV/AIDS.

Characterized by the major court case in opposition to the South African government, the drug companies "yearn to be seen assisting against the fight the ever growing global AIDS crisis. However, the companies remain unwavering in their defense of patents…even if it means suing poor nations that want to make or buy bootleg generics because they can't afford brand-name drugs." The episode not only represents morally incorrect, but a major economic, political, and social challenge. Drug companies, logically, will not help those in poverty due to the substantial loss they would sacrifice, so only the rich can afford the medicine. The unreasonably high prices dictated by these pharmaceutical companies, at least for the patented drugs, are a considerable amount higher than their marginal cost, the overall cost of constructing the drug. For ...

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Works Cited

KENNEDY, R. E. The Pharmaceutical Industry and the AIDS Crisis in Developing Countries, Harvard Business School, August 2001. [Case Study]

AGENCE NATIONAL DE RECHERCHES SUR LA SIDA (ANRS): Economics of AIDS and Access to HIV/ AIDS Care in Developing Countries, Issues and Challenges  Part One: Patents, Generic Drugs and the Market for Antiretrovirals, June 2003. [Available from http://www.iaen.org/papers/anrs.php, accessed in Jul 2006]

INTERNATIONAL AIDS-ECONOMICS NETWORK (IAEN): State of the Art: AIDS and Economics, July 2002. [Available from http://pdf.dec.org/pdf_docs/PNACP969.pdf, accessed in Jul 2006]

KREMER, M. Creating Markets for New Vaccines Part 1: Rationale, April 2001. [Available from http://papers.nber.org/papers/W7716.pdf, accessed in Jul 2006]

PNG, Ivan. Managerial Economics, 2nd ed., Blackwell Publishing, 2002.

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