Big Pharma Lobbies Hard to End India's Distribution of Affordable Generic Drugs

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/26721-big-pharma-lobbies-hard-to-end-india-s-distribution-of-affordable-generic-drugs



Employees work in a lab of Cipla, one of India's largest generic drug makers, in Mumbai, India. March 1, 2012.

Big Pharma Lobbies Hard to End India's Distribution of Affordable Generic Drugs
Friday, 10 October 2014 09:56 By Mike Ludwig, Truthout | Report

In 2000, the international aid organization Doctors Without Borders launched small HIV/AIDS treatment projects in Thailand, South Africa and Cameroon. At the time, the cost of treating one person with anti-retroviral drugs was about $10,000 a year, posing a significant challenge for humanitarian groups fighting HIV/AIDS in developing countries.

Then, in 2001, the price of HIV/AIDS treatments suddenly dropped by 96 percent, as generic drug manufacturers in India began competing in the anti-retroviral drug market. At the time, India's patent law excluded patents for live-saving drugs, ensuring that market competition would keep the prices down for Indian consumers.

The cost of anti-retroviral drugs has continued to drop, and the annual cost of treating one person is currently about $140, according to Doctors Without Borders. Research has shown that treating HIV patients early can significantly reduce transmission rates, and now the group provides HIV/AIDS treatment in 24 developing countries.

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But big drug manufacturers in the United States and Europe are not happy with these flexibilities. A Truthout investigation has revealed that an aggressive lobbying effort by pharmaceutical interests pushed Congress and the White House to put mounting pressure on India to change its patent laws, despite India's current role as the "pharmacy of the developing world."