The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 270 No 7247 p602
3 May 2003

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Villains of the piece? [more]
Last chance [more]

Villains of the piece?

A documentary shown on Channel 4 last weekend — "Dying for drugs" — was designed to tug at the heart strings. Carefully researched and deeply emotive, it set out to prove, among other issues, that many people in the developing world are denied appropriate medicines because of the pharmaceutical companies' policies, particularly towards trials and pricing.

The programme mentioned, but glossed over, the huge investment made by companies in developing drugs, and even well-informed viewers must have been left wondering whether pharmaceutical companies could do more to help the disadvantaged of the world. The answer came the following day from GlaxoSmithKline, which announced that the price of Combivir (zidovudine and lamivudine) would be cut by nearly half for sales of the drug to 63 countries, with many commentators saying that GSK had given in to shareholder and health activist pressure.

This may seem to be a simple solution to a simple problem, but the health needs of developing countries would not be resolved tomorrow even if all medicines available in the developed world were free in developing countries. Clean water supplies, good sanitation and better housing would do more to improve the health of many millions of people than any number of free drugs. Bad debts and corruption — not international pharmaceutical companies — are the villains of that piece.

So should pharmaceutical companies be blamed for wishing to protect their profits in such circumstances? There are plenty of unscrupulous operators who would be only too keen to make a quick profit importing cut-price medicines back to the West (even if they were dyed a different colour or had some distinguishing feature that made their purchase illegal here). And why should pharmaceutical companies not protect their products from generic manufacturers?

The truth is that, because there is no international political will to do anything about the real reasons for poor health in the developing world, vested interests on all sides will continue to hold sway. As each new generation of documentary film makers comes along, we can expect, every few years, to be saddened by yet another tale of health misery on our screens and accusing fingers pointed in the direction of pharmaceutical companies. Then it is all back to square one.

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Last chance

Pharmacists working in the pilot sites where "Agenda for change" is to be implemented first have a huge responsibility to their colleagues elsewhere. They must make sure that the evaluation of posts really reflects the intricacies, knowledge and responsibilities of pharmacists, and emphasises the contribution they make to patient care. If they sell themselves short, they will not have another chance (see News Feature, p611).

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