In many ways India, due to its population and the strength of its generic industry, is the key battlefield for global pharma in their war against cheaper generics. Which is why the Obama administration is trying to arm twist India into blocking generics:
India is also aggressively trying to reduce variation in drug prices within the country too.
"Consumers will be the biggest beneficiaries as prices of some brands may fall by up to 70 per cent. [...] Analysts estimate that the policy will cover two-thirds of the Rs. 60,000 crore domestic industry. [...] The new policy differs from the existing DPCO 1995 in that it is based on the simple average price (SAP) for all brands with a market share above 1 per cent in their segment. The new policy also uses a market-based pricing mechanism against the earlier proposed cost-plus method. [...] In the long-term, the policy proposes to reduce the bandwidth of prices of the same molecule and this will have an impact on manufacturers in the mid and lower segments, analysts feel."
I wish India were doing as well in controlling tuberculosis. Both a newspaper in the United States, which did much to break the story,[1] and a newspaper from India[2] are in agreement with official sources from both countries[3][4] that much more needs to be done to stop the spread of drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis in India, which could threaten the health of the whole world. (A century and a half ago, tuberculosis was perhaps the world's leading cause of death.)
> "I am sure and I have evidence that someone who was [HIV] positive turned negative after prayers," she said. - Christine Ondoa, Uganda health minister
> Mbeki stirred controversy when he questioned the causal link between HIV and AIDS; in 2000 he set up a Presidential AIDS Advisory Panel, largely comprising AIDS denialists, to discuss how South Africa should deal with the crisis.
> Mbeki also evoked conspiracy theories by alleging that the US Central Intelligence Agency, working with large pharmaceutical companies, was part of a conspiracy to promote the view that HIV caused AIDS.
> According to the authors of a 2008 Harvard study, more than 330,000 lives were lost as a result of the delays in implementing a feasible and timely ARV treatment programme in South Africa.
> [Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, SA health minister 1999-2008] approach to HIV/AIDS drew widespread international condemnation, which came to a head following the 2006 International AIDS Conference in Toronto, when she insisted that garlic, lemon and beetroot be displayed in South Africa's exhibition booth.
Not having the brand name pills doesn't mean people campaign for those meds. It leaves a vacuum for ruthless, evil, people to exploit sufferers.
> The drug, known as Virol ZAPPER, was being sold in 37ml liquid doses, each costing about US$210; patients were advised to take 10 drops daily. It was being advertised on local radio and TV stations as a miracle cure for HIV.http://www.irinnews.org/report/94679/africa-snake-oil-salesm...
Actually by and large Indian government has done a good job fighting diseases like Polio. They set up centers accessible to nearly every one, where you could have Polio drops administered to kids. Generally these are near places of worship, schools or community centers. The government also bought in celebrities to campaign for that.
I see the same for Tuberculosis, malnutrition, maternal health, child diarrhea and many other public health things.
But definitely more can be done.
Please note India also has massive corruption in private set ups. Pointless tests, surgeries,needless medication advices to inflate bills, treatments purpose fully stretched... etc etc. It all happens.
If we talk about the broader perspective, so much credit should go to the Indian Supreme court and its patent office for taking bold stance, time and again, on this broken patent system, allowing generics to make affordable ones.
For example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novartis_v._Union_of_India_%26_... talks about how cancer drug were made affordable. Novartis (Switzerland) set the price of Gleevec at USD 2666 per patient per month (which is almost double of India's annual per-capita nominal GDP USD1414); Whereas, generic companies were selling their versions at USD 177 to 266 per patient per month. We can safely presume the situation to be much worse in Africa.
Based on this possibility, support is being replicated to Africa, notably for cancer, AIDS and TB.
Very sobering, and an inspiring stance against big pharma by India. I always had the impression (fuelled by big pharma propaganda?) that there was some debate around the effectiveness of generic ARVs, at least initially. Unfortunately, it sounds like there is much more that could have been done that wasn't until the Clinton Foundation's initiative.
> The history of the disease [is] well documented.
Eh. That's debatable, the history from the discovery (1980 onwards) is well-documented, the history before that... there are a pair of books (Pepin's The Origins of AIDS is the best I've found so far and an excellent read) but even then lots of the events are only circumstantially determined (e.g. hemo-caribbean's role in Haiti) and for others we only know the result (AFAIK we still have little idea how Robert Rayford contracted AIDS in Missouri in 1965~1966).
Here's what I don't get. After we liberalize drugs, abolish patents, and fill the world with generics- what do we do when private companies stop researching new drugs because the generics market will destroy ROI?
The same thing we are doing now. Research in universities, NSF labs and government funded programs around the world. Which are the major contributors to research around the world.
For people who care, I support New incentives - an organization that's actively trying to help constrain AIDS in Africa and that has managed to do it in a very cost effective and transparent way.
In many ways, and definitely in more ways than one, India is a fantastic resource, with their talent and tremendous headcount. India is definitely not a "pirate" state. I believe to have read that the Indian Navy is even involved in protecting merchant shipping lanes off the Somalia coast. The only qualms I have, is with the licence Raj, the paperwork kingdom, that ruins business opportunities all across India ...
> Indian Navy is even involved in protecting merchant shipping lanes off the Somalia coast.
Yes, it is true that Indian Navy/Coast Guard protects and also helpfully escorts maritime around that area [1].
It also protects the original untouched Sentinalese[2] tribes off the Andaman & Nicobar islands on the other side. Historically, our country has NEVER gone and attacked anyone in the past 3000 years. Sometimes because of our own resilience and other times because of our stupid prime minister.
> licence Raj, the paperwork kingdom, that ruins business opportunities all across India.
You're bang on this one. It's those 50-60 odd corrupt assholes on the top which make life hell for the rest of the population. Pretty similar to how things are here in the US, albeit the corruption part(?). Only magnified.
India is going to be (if not already) one of the largest consumers of Linux and other open source software.
I find it sad that most OSS conferences are held in Europe or USA, where you will find everyone toting Macbooks. Do note that I dont begrudge this and I do understand that it is the birthplace of most software.
However, I do wish that the chief developers reach out to the Indian community and help establish a vibrant ecosystem before we achieve Apple affordability.
[+] [-] r0h1n|12 years ago|reply
https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/press/release.cfm?id=7...
http://jonathanturley.org/2013/09/26/obama-to-india-block-pr...
India is also aggressively trying to reduce variation in drug prices within the country too.
"Consumers will be the biggest beneficiaries as prices of some brands may fall by up to 70 per cent. [...] Analysts estimate that the policy will cover two-thirds of the Rs. 60,000 crore domestic industry. [...] The new policy differs from the existing DPCO 1995 in that it is based on the simple average price (SAP) for all brands with a market share above 1 per cent in their segment. The new policy also uses a market-based pricing mechanism against the earlier proposed cost-plus method. [...] In the long-term, the policy proposes to reduce the bandwidth of prices of the same molecule and this will have an impact on manufacturers in the mid and lower segments, analysts feel."
http://www.thehindu.com/business/Industry/new-drug-price-reg...
[+] [-] tokenadult|12 years ago|reply
[1] http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1000142405270230344420...
[2] http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-06-23/news...
[3] http://www.iom.edu/Reports/2012/Facing-the-Reality-of-Drug-R...
[4] http://www.tbcindia.nic.in/pdfs/RNTCP%20Response%20DR%20TB%2...
[+] [-] dharmach|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] DanBC|12 years ago|reply
But there were other problems with HIV / AIDS treatment. Government ministers believing and promoting nonsense herbal "treatments" and attacking ARVs.
http://www.irinnews.org/report/93411/africa-the-crazy-things...
> "I am sure and I have evidence that someone who was [HIV] positive turned negative after prayers," she said. - Christine Ondoa, Uganda health minister
> Mbeki stirred controversy when he questioned the causal link between HIV and AIDS; in 2000 he set up a Presidential AIDS Advisory Panel, largely comprising AIDS denialists, to discuss how South Africa should deal with the crisis.
> Mbeki also evoked conspiracy theories by alleging that the US Central Intelligence Agency, working with large pharmaceutical companies, was part of a conspiracy to promote the view that HIV caused AIDS.
> According to the authors of a 2008 Harvard study, more than 330,000 lives were lost as a result of the delays in implementing a feasible and timely ARV treatment programme in South Africa.
> [Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, SA health minister 1999-2008] approach to HIV/AIDS drew widespread international condemnation, which came to a head following the 2006 International AIDS Conference in Toronto, when she insisted that garlic, lemon and beetroot be displayed in South Africa's exhibition booth.
Not having the brand name pills doesn't mean people campaign for those meds. It leaves a vacuum for ruthless, evil, people to exploit sufferers.
Mathias Rath (Vitamins cure AIDs, ARVs don't do anything except kill people) http://www.irinnews.org/report/83497/south-africa-final-chap...
> The drug, known as Virol ZAPPER, was being sold in 37ml liquid doses, each costing about US$210; patients were advised to take 10 drops daily. It was being advertised on local radio and TV stations as a miracle cure for HIV. http://www.irinnews.org/report/94679/africa-snake-oil-salesm...
[+] [-] kamaal|12 years ago|reply
I see the same for Tuberculosis, malnutrition, maternal health, child diarrhea and many other public health things.
But definitely more can be done.
Please note India also has massive corruption in private set ups. Pointless tests, surgeries,needless medication advices to inflate bills, treatments purpose fully stretched... etc etc. It all happens.
[+] [-] eYsYs|12 years ago|reply
For example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novartis_v._Union_of_India_%26_... talks about how cancer drug were made affordable. Novartis (Switzerland) set the price of Gleevec at USD 2666 per patient per month (which is almost double of India's annual per-capita nominal GDP USD1414); Whereas, generic companies were selling their versions at USD 177 to 266 per patient per month. We can safely presume the situation to be much worse in Africa.
Based on this possibility, support is being replicated to Africa, notably for cancer, AIDS and TB.
[+] [-] jdmitch|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] masklinn|12 years ago|reply
Eh. That's debatable, the history from the discovery (1980 onwards) is well-documented, the history before that... there are a pair of books (Pepin's The Origins of AIDS is the best I've found so far and an excellent read) but even then lots of the events are only circumstantially determined (e.g. hemo-caribbean's role in Haiti) and for others we only know the result (AFAIK we still have little idea how Robert Rayford contracted AIDS in Missouri in 1965~1966).
[+] [-] sliverstorm|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pkhagah|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|12 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] gnufied|12 years ago|reply
WARNING - it will prompt you to print the article, so don't forget to cancel it.
[+] [-] pratyushag|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sreejithr|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] eriksank|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] monsterix|12 years ago|reply
Yes, it is true that Indian Navy/Coast Guard protects and also helpfully escorts maritime around that area [1].
It also protects the original untouched Sentinalese[2] tribes off the Andaman & Nicobar islands on the other side. Historically, our country has NEVER gone and attacked anyone in the past 3000 years. Sometimes because of our own resilience and other times because of our stupid prime minister.
[1] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7736885.stm
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Sentinel_Island
> licence Raj, the paperwork kingdom, that ruins business opportunities all across India.
You're bang on this one. It's those 50-60 odd corrupt assholes on the top which make life hell for the rest of the population. Pretty similar to how things are here in the US, albeit the corruption part(?). Only magnified.
[+] [-] sandGorgon|12 years ago|reply
I find it sad that most OSS conferences are held in Europe or USA, where you will find everyone toting Macbooks. Do note that I dont begrudge this and I do understand that it is the birthplace of most software.
However, I do wish that the chief developers reach out to the Indian community and help establish a vibrant ecosystem before we achieve Apple affordability.