Doctors Without Borders

Access to Essential Medicines: Ten Stories That Mattered in 2011

8. Stuck in The Middle: Drug Companies Push Up Prices for Patients in Middle-Income Countries

People living with HIV in middle-income countries like India, Brazil or Thailand are facing huge hikes in the costs of AIDS medicines—at a time when the pharmaceutical industry sees these countries as potentially lucrative markets for high-priced drugs, and “blockbuster” drugs go off-patent in wealthy countries.

This year, a number of drug companies confirmed an ongoing trend by refusing to extend standardized price discounts to middle-income countries—something which was previously routine practice. ViiV, Merck, Johnson & Johnson, and Abbott all now specifically exclude middle-income countries from standardized price discounts for some or all of their drugs. Countries are thus forced to negotiate on a case-by-case basis, which is likely to lead to higher prices.

This move ignores the fact that the majority of people in middle-income countries can’t afford to pay high prices for medicines. To add to the problem, these countries are now losing the support from global health mechanisms like the Global Fund.

Photo: India 2009 © Sami Siva