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Equity pricing of essential medicines in developing countries
Médecins Sans Frontières, Brazil 2002 Conference.
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Too often in the countries where Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) works, we have been forced to watch our patients die because they cannot afford the drugs that could improve, extend, or save their lives.
Price is not the only reason why people do not get the medicines they need, but it is a major barrier. The high cost of many life-saving drugs not only keeps patients from getting treatment, but also discourages health ministries from improving the quality of patient care through the use of newer and better medicines.
While the $406 billion-strong drug industry researches, develops, markets, and prices medicines for the industrialised world, there is no mechanism to make newer medicines affordable to developing countries. Newer drugs, which are usually under patent and more expensive than those off-patent, are expected to become even more expensive with the implementation of the WTO Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) in all Members, scheduled to be completed by 2006.
MSF believes that essential drugs are not a luxury that should be reserved for the wealthy. Rather, access to essential medicines should be guaranteed as a critical component of the human right to health.
Equity pricing: what is it and how can it be achieved?
Essential medicines should be priced in developing countries based on the principle of ?“equity.?” MSF uses the term ?“equity pricing?” to describe policies that ensure that, from the point of view of the community and the individual, the price of a drug is fair, equitable and affordable, even for a poor population and/or the health system that serves them. Equity pricing is based on the principle that the poor should pay less for, and have access to, essential medicines.
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