This snipit is from today's WSJ. Debate on why drug prices are too high in the US. AIDs medicine prices will be reduced in Africa. Are any sales and smaller profits better than no sales and no profits?
....Democratic Rep. Tom Allen of Maine, who has proposed legislation to reduce pharmaceutical prices in the U.S., noted that pharmaceutical manufacturers are offering the discounts in Africa partly out of fear that those countries will begin manufacturing the drugs themselves, which is permitted by international law in a health crisis. "It's an act of self-preservation," Mr. Allen said.
Under the plan negotiated with the United Nations, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., Glaxo Wellcome PLC, Merck & Co., Roche Holding AG and Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH will slash their AIDS drug prices -- in some cases to as little as 10% to 15% of U.S. prices. Glaxo Wellcome, for example, said it will sell its drug Combovir, a combination of AZT and 3TC, for about $2 a day, well below the U.S. price of $15. The goal is to try to significantly increase health-care services in sub-Saharan Africa and other areas where the AIDS epidemic is reaching crisis levels.
Jim |
