What Incentives Do Drug Companies Like Merck Have To Make Drugs For Poor Countries Like A Malaria Vaccine?

Why would a company undergo the costly R&D process for a product for people who don’t have buying power?

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This entry was posted on Monday, February 8th, 2010 at 6:39 pm and is filed under Drugs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “What Incentives Do Drug Companies Like Merck Have To Make Drugs For Poor Countries Like A Malaria Vaccine?”

  1. Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz has addressed this
    lack of financial motivation to develop vaccines and medicines for diseases of the third world which do not attack the profit motivated R & D that is required to solve problems which affect millions around the world.
    He calls for a prize money award for companies which provide the vaccines and medicines that apply to the “unprofitable” diseases of the third world.

  2. Because they are testing it on the population. It is more difficult (but not impossible) for them to test it on the US population (they already have). They take drugs that are outdated and sell them to poor countries for a profit. They use drugs that are banned in the US in poorer countries. And yes they can because the FDA does not protect anyone but their own pockets. They suppress natural cures that everyone could afford so that they can make a similar type drug that they can patent and sell for billions.

  3. good for their reputation
    gov’t subsidies (sp?)
    tax breaks
    and sometimes, if diseases are similar, they can use the research as a stepping stone when something applicable shows up
    (I’m sure there are others, this is just what came to mind first)