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More thoughts on the Rwanda/ Access to Essential Meds. case study
Posted on October 9, 2008 by inthealthaid
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The book me and Hans were talking about is “The Truth About Drug Companies” by Marcia Angell, an M.D. who edited the New England Journal. (A very easy read, plain language and right to the point.)
To summarize Angell’s thesis:
The National Institutes of Health in the U.S. funds the majority of the research that has resulted in innovative drugs. (That is, new drugs, not drugs where one molecule has been altered.)
However, the NIH does not keep the patents because it is not in the business of marketing. The patents for new drugs are owned by universities and then sold to or licenced by drug companies after they have already been discovered as the result of public funds.
The drug companies don’t discover them, they just market them. That is drug companies advertise them to doctors and patients – they sell them. Big drug companies actually have tens of thousands of sales people.
When people complain about the high cost of drugs, the drug companies lie by saying that they have high costs to research and develop them and that if they don’t get a good return on investment, no new drug research will be funded. But the ROI is actually huge. And they are robbing Americans blind, because the American taxpayers are funding the majority of the research!
If the taxpayers are funding the research, why should the government of the U.S. not retain control over the drugs? It is my belief that the government of the U.S. is more accountable to its citizens, who could benefit from more affordable drugs than any CEO at Merck or Pfizer could ever be.
The U.S. is very careful to keep business and government separated, as this is better for the economy overall. I agree that’s the case.
But I think drugs are a special exception because they can benefit all Americans as a result of government funding.
And that leaves me optimistic for the rest of the world. Americans are the most generous donators of foreign aid in total (not per capita mind you) so I also believe they would be more generous with drugs if they owned the patents instead of the drug companies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVimVzgtD6w
An interesting video about development. Similiar to the one Dr. Spiegel gave in terms of that graph.
Just a quick apology to the class for not being able to moderate tonight. I am currently dealing with some health issues. Thanks for keeping the discussion going.