Business before people

Around 30 children die every hour as a result of AIDS. 34 million people around the world had HIV in 2010

Patents held by drugs companies are a big reason why more than nine million people in the developing world are not getting the HIV medicines they need. ‘Recent studies have shown that people with HIV on antiretroviral treatments are 96 per cent less likely to pass on the virus,’ says Michelle Childs, Director of Policy and Advocacy at Médecins Sans Frontières’ Access Campaign. So the creation in July 2010 of the Medicines Patent Pool – which encourages the pharmaceutical giants to loosen their grip on licences so that cheaper, better and more accessible HIV medicines can be made – was seen as a key victory for common sense. Joining the Pool would bring down the price of some HIV treatments from around $1,000 to less than $100 per patient per year

But there’s a massive hitch. Some of the main players, notably Johnson & Johnson, are refusing to negotiate with the Pool, putting a huge number of lives at risk.

‘It seems Johnson & Johnson have decided that their own business interests are more important than the effect of joining the Pool could have on the health of millions of people around the world,’ says Diarmaid McDonald, spokesperson for the Stop AIDS Campaign.

Johnson & Johnson holds patents on three new HIV drugs that are desperately needed in the Global South. And, as some medicines are built from several patents from different sources, the company’s refusal to play ball means some cheap drugs can’t even be made with patents that have been licensed to the Pool by others.

The pharmaceutical industry is so advanced that enough drugs and medicines can be produced to prevent and cure most illnesses. Yet this will never be done and people will continue to die because they cannot afford medicines as these are manufactured and locked up in drug-stores reserved only for the few who can pay. The owners of the companies may publicly declare that they help mankind, yet when it comes to their money and profit they refuse to allow cheap drugs to be produced for sick people who cannot afford the expensive ones they produce for the rich. SOYMB notes though that the cost of drugs is only one aspect of the problem; others include access to adequate medical infrastructure (e.g medical staff and equipment) and reliable drug distribution systems. But it is the effect of poverty which looms above all and that is an inescapable aspect of capitalism.