Patented Drugs

Even the benefit of increased R&D because the disease also affects developed countries may not accrue to the people in developing countries because some strains of HIV/ AIDS in Africa are different from those on developed countries and as the developing countries are not worth investing in, there may still not be access.

The good news is that there is an option available to countries that cannot afford these expensive patented drugs. This is the use of generics. Generics are the same as the branded, patented versions of the drugs but because they are 'copies' of already existing drugs, the generic companies do not spend as much on R&D so generics cost less. Generic companies also use locally available raw materials in their production and these usually cost them less than they would cost the counterparts in the developed world. Of course, there is always the need to keep prices low because since generic companies do not have exclusive rights to their products or processes, others may come up with cheaper versions of the same drug and this will affect their sale.

Some developing countries, notably, India, China and Mexico have innovative capabilities. They can produce generic versions of new drugs by a process of reverse engineering. Scientists in these countries are able to develop new processes to manufacture patented drugs. This process is only possible in countries whose patent laws protect processes but not products and this was the position in most developing countries before the TRIPS Agreement. Even though only a fraction of developing countries had this capacity, others were able to import these product from them this fraction at much cheaper prices.