Pharmaceuticals – a recap Discuss the view that “drugs companies are not fully addressing the needs of the world’s poorest people.”

How do pharmaceuticals make their money? Branded drugs can be 30x more expensive than generic drugs, even though they are the same

Research and Development Most money is spent on diseases of affluence. If a new treatment is developed it is considered intellectual property so it is illegal to make generic copies for 20 years

Consumers have little choice about which drugs they take. They take the drugs prescribed by their doctor Therefore, the pharmaceutical industry targets marketing at doctors In the USA, the government is prevented from encouraging the use of generic drugs due to legal action by the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Association

DEBATE TIME Team ATeam B

You have 15 mins to prepare Use the cards to formulate your arguments Use web resources to gain useful stats to back up your arguments Use your own knowledge and understanding to counter argue against the other team. You will have 2 min to speak and then 1 min to respond to arguments

NOYES Unless controlled, the generic drugs business will inevitably undermine research and development into new drugs Millions die each year from preventable, treatable diseases. It is immoral to deny them access to the cheapest drugs The problem is poverty not the high cost of patented drugs. Most poor nations cannot even afford the cost of generic drugs Poor nations should not have to foot the bill for research and development into drugs aimed at richer nations The drugs industry is a commercial business not a charity. If we were to subsidise the poor, the taxpayer would foot the bill. Allowing poorer countries to undercut patent medicine prices will have minimal effect on the profits of the drugs industry