Poor countries should get life-saving drugs at cost price

Plans for a two-tier system for drug pricing, which will supply cheap medicines to poor countries while they remain more expensive for the rich are on its way. The plan comes from a high-level working group that states that drug companies should sell drugs for AIDS, TB and malaria to the poor countries at cost price. Tony Blair launched the report by the UK Working Group on "Increasing Access to Essential Medicines in the Developing World", which is backed by the pharmaceutical industry, the UN and charitable foundations. The ambitious proposals, aim to carve a clear path through the vested interests and issues of patents, which have kept the price of life-saving drugs too high for millions of poor people. Representatives of the British companies GlaxoSmithKline and Astra Zeneca and of the World Health Organisation were among those who took part. Millions are dying in developing countries of preventable diseases such as AIDS and curable diseases like malaria and tuberculosis. The HIV/AIDS epidemic is doing enormous economic, social and political harm, wiping out a generation of young adults. AIDS, TB and malaria cause six million deaths a year, costing the afflicted countries $120bn in lost productivity. Life-saving drugs particularly for HIV/AIDS which are available in rich countries are prohibitively expensive in the least developed countries. Drug companies must sell them at 'near to cost price' in the poorest countries. The group pledges in the report to work with the international community to make this a reality and to monitor whether cheaper drugs do reach those who need them. The plan is an attempt to cut the vast number of people dying from AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. The group also says there is an urgent need for more investment in research and development for the diseases of poor countries, and that there must be monitoring to establish how much the industry is doing to address illnesses such as diarrhoeal and respiratory diseases which kill thousands of children.