The Drugs Don't Work: Access to Medicines in the Developing World

Abstract:     
Development, poverty and the means to assist countries to break away from the causes of poverty have become some of the most important subjects in the international trade arena. Of these causes, the technological gap between developed and developing nations presents a compelling call for some sort of action in order to alleviate the resource inequality. There are many examples that could illustrate that developing countries are being affected in some ways by the technological gap. Of these examples, one of the most important is the apparent struggle between large multinational pharmaceutical companies and developing nations with regards to access to medicines. The present article presents some examples in which developing countries are affected by the access to medicines debate.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 30

Keywords: access, medicines, patents, developing countries

JEL Classification: K33

Accepted Paper Series