If anyone of us were to encounter a dying person on a road and demand payment in order to help them, we would be the object of scorn and criticism. When pharmaceutical companies withhold medication to HIV/AIDS patients, which is certainly a parallel, most of us accept it.
Former president Clinton has announced a deal with major U.S. drug companies to supply much cheaper HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis meds to developing countries. The HIV/AIDS drugs will be packaged together and sold for $425 a year starting in 2010, 28% lower than the current lower priced alternative. Another company will sell the tuberculosis drug rifabutin at $1 per dose for a six months treatment.
We can hail the Clinton Foundation for working to equalize the effect of a wrong, but it’s hard to praise the pharmaceutical companies for something they should have done long ago, done on their own, or done better.