PHM-Exch> MSF responds: Bayer's "we didn't develop for Indians, but for western people who can afford it" comment

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: David Legge <D.Legge at latrobe.edu.au>
From: Ip-health [mailto:ip-health-bounces at lists.keionline.org] On Behalf Of
Joanna Keenan-Siciliano

As posted yesterday, Bayer's CEO Marijn Dekkers commented at a drug
industry forum that they "..did not develop this medicine for Indians; we
developed it for western patients who can afford it." (Here's the article
if you missed it:
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-01-21/merck-to-bristol-myers-face-more-threats-on-india-drug-patents
).
He was referring to Nexavar, a drug that India issued a compulsory licence
on in 2012. This statement sums up, in one sentence, everything that is
wrong with the R&D system today; that R&D can only be rewarded by a patent
and through high prices to recoup the R&D costs, and that those who can't
afford to pay are basically cut out of the system, and that if diseases
aren't profitable enough, there will be no R&D investments and no new drugs.

Médecins Sans Frontières issues the quote below in response:

http://www.msfaccess.org/content/msf-response-bayer-ceo-statement-medicines-developed-only-western-patients

"The Bayer CEO going on record to say that they did not develop a cancer
medicine for Indians but only for 'western patients who can afford it' sums
up everything that is wrong with the multinational pharmaceutical industry.
Bayer is effectively admitting that the drugs they develop are deliberately
going to be rationed to the wealthiest patients.

This is a side-effect of the way drugs are developed today.  Pharmaceutical
companies are singularly focused on profit and so aggressively push for
patents and high drug prices. Diseases that don't promise a profit are
neglected, and patients who can't afford to pay are cut out of the picture.
Drug companies claim to care about global health needs, but their track
record says otherwise.

It doesn't have to be this way. Medical innovation can be incentivised
differently, and research paid for in ways that deliver drugs but without
high prices that exclude millions of people from access.  Instead of being
part of the problem, drug companies should work to be part of the solution
and change the dire state of medical research and development today."

-    Dr Manica Balasegaram, Executive Director, Médecins Sans Frontières
Access Campaign



Joanna Keenan
Press Officer
Médecins Sans Frontières - Access Campaign
E: joanna.keenan[at]geneva.msf.org
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