Check out this quick video from BBC News...type in "Thai protests over HIV drugs access" into the search and click on the video that comes up on the right hand side of the page.
I must say...sometimes I wonder whether intellectual property rights involving highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART) are valid in developing worlds where they are fighting HIV. Basically, Abbott Laboratories are pulling a highly successful HAART Rx from the Thai market because the Thai government allegedly violated a patent law in manufacturing one of Abbott's earlier versions of the Rx. I don't know anything about IP rights, but I really don't know how this is legal? People's lives are at stake, and the US Pharm Giant is putting pressure on a small developing country to pay high HAART prices. Does anyone know about any subsidies that Big Pharm offers to the developing world? Perhaps Bill and Melinda need to open a pharm co?
Three years ago...
the view of Mt. Baldy after a wonderful storm...have we seen snow like this in CA since then? Climate change? Oh yes...
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5 comments:
It really baffles me to think about how greedy corporations can be. Sometimes it seems like no one is regulating them when they pull things like this. What a terrible thing to do. Thanks for sharing.
I read an interesting article that commented on how the bio business needs to start working on their IPR laws. An interesting suggestion is to engage in open licensing i.e. when a person comes up with a technology (usually the universities), make that technology an open license so that any further innovations (utilizing the original technology) must be shared with the public. This prevents people from capitalizing on life-saving innovations, and from turning public innovations into profit. The only problem though is that pharm companies are not going to be happy about this.
It will be nice to come to a common ground where HIV vaccinations should be available to all, and HIV will one day only be a memory of the past.
It is unfortunate that so many are forced to suffer so that a select few can retain profits. If we are truly devoted to combating the AIDS pandemic, then we need to find real solutions that bring drugs to all.
The sad reality is that this world drives on money. We can sit here and question why the government doesn't do more to regulate these corporations. When you have a country in poverty and government officials looking to get rich, it is not that hard to bribe them. In the end, everybody wins except for those in need of the drugs.
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