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Right Idea, Wrong Result—Canada's Access to Medicines Regime

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 January 2021

Paige E. Goodwin
Paige E. Goodwin*
Affiliation:
Boston University School of Law, Dalhousie University
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Extract

In 2007, an estimated 33.2 million people were living with HIV, 2.5 million had become infected, and 2.1 million died from the virus. The majority of infected individuals reside in Africa, where in some countries as many as 33.4% of adults have HIV. In developed countries, effective drug therapies have reduced AIDS-related deaths by over seventy percent each year. These drugs have been so effective that over the last two years the global number of individuals dying from AIDS-related illness has actually declined. These therapies, however, are currently sold for $10,000 USD a year, a purchase price that is not feasible for low income countries where the annual health expenditure may be only $29 per person. A lack of essential medicine is not only a problem for those suffering from AIDS. Low and middle-income countries are disproportionately burdened by many additional chronic and infectious illnesses. The World Health Organization (“WHO”) estimates that one third of the world's population cannot regularly access essential medicines. The WHO cites the high cost of drugs as one of the major hurdles countries face in obtaining access to medication. However, the high cost of these brand-name medications does not reflect their minimal production costs. Drug manufacturers can produce generic versions of these drugs for as little as 1/30th of the cost of their brand-name counterparts.

Type
Article
Information
American Journal of Law & Medicine , Volume 34 , Issue 4 , December 2008 , pp. 567 - 584
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics and Boston University 2008

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131 Id.

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135 Id.

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196 Id.

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