E-drug: Guardian on WHO/HAI drug pricing report
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,960103,00.html
Pricing policies exposed
Sarah Boseley, health editor
Wednesday May 21, 2003
The Guardian
The World Health Organisation is to publish a survey of the prices of
medicines, exposing the secrecy of the pharmaceutical firms over pricing
and revealing the high cost of health to people in developing countries.
Prices are critical in the developing world because, in 90% of cases,
medicines are bought by individuals, not the state. Sometimes, when a
person is ill, family members may have to sell their assets to try to keep
him or her alive.
Healthcare in poorer countries badly needs improving, but the price of
medicines is proving the biggest obstacle, says a new WHO and Health
Action International study.
It shows that a full course of antibiotics to cure simple pneumonia in a
poor country can cost a month's wages for the lowest-paid unskilled state
worker, compared with two or three hours' wages in a rich country. A
Tanzanian would have to work 500 hours to pay for tuberculosis treatment,
a Swiss person just 90 minutes.
The study says that pharmaceutical companies "infrequently" set prices
according to the ability to pay. "Changes in trade regulations and
particularly rules relating to intellectual property, such as patent
rights, may also affect the international prices and availability of
medicines. Prices thus need to be monitored," the survey says.
Patents on new medicines such as Aids drugs are not the only factor
raising the price, says the survey. Duties, taxes, mark-ups, distribution
costs and dispensing fees can regularly put 30% to 45% on the price.
Some commonly used medicines have been found to be more expensive in
developing countries, it says.
The WHO manual lists 30 medicines that should be monitored, for conditions
that include Aids, malaria and the chronic diseases of affluent countries
such as asthma and diabetes.
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