E-drug: Economics of antiretroviral manufacturing (cont'd)
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I would like to respond to the issue of economics of antiretroviral drug
manufacturing. I tend to partially agree with Rob Verhage on his view.
However, I would like to add that since the developing countries'
economies are still at their infancy stage and because these countries
are just beginning to develop in all aspects, I would suggest that such
new drugs should be donated to these these developing countries or they
should be sold to these countries at a lower price in order for the
common man in these countries to be able to afford. But as long as the
prices of such essential drugs are higher then they will still be
unavailable in these countries.
Indeed some discussion about the availability of the retroviral drugs
could be going on, but you see just mere discussion without a proper
follow-up and implementation is in itself a waste of time. What is
probably needed is effective implementation of the findings of the many
symposia (which are ever organised) by the concerned authorities in the
respective developing countries.
These I think would make the drugs available and slightly affordable to
the masses in the developing countries. The developed world should also
not think nor imagine that when the AIDS scourge is devastating the
developing world then their developed world safety is guaranteed .
Whatever affects the developing world will in no way spare the developed
world be it directly or indirectly.
David Ouma
Wellcome Trust Research Labs
Kenya
e-mail: david@wtrl.or.ke
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