E-drug: Health and 'commodities' (cont'd)
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I believe there is another connotation of "commodity" that may be
important in this context. Industry refers to some products as
commodities when they move from being high-margin, high-profit
items to low-margin, low-profit products. This can happen when the
public sector procures very large quantities and is able to achieve
near-cost-of-production prices. It can also happen when a product
loses its monopoly patent protection (Note: not all patents lead to
monopolies; only patents that are controlled by a single company or
licensee lead to monopolies) and other manufacturers enter the
market place with prices near the cost of production. Used in this
way, the word does not have a positive connotation for industry.
The seeking of these commodity prices by public health programs is
one of the tension points between industry and public health
programs. Condoms have been commodities (in this connotation)
ever since USAID began buying huge quantities. The same is true
for oral contraceptives (USAID) and EPI vaccines (purchased by
UNICEF).
Richard Mahoney
International Vaccine Institute
Seoul, Korea
rmahoney@ivi.int
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