Infrastructure and Differential Pricing

Infrastructure
The research-based pharmaceutical industry's ability to contribute to enhanced access to medicines in poorer countries depends entirely on the environments in which it operates.
The role of the pharmaceutical industry in the provision of medicines depends upon:

• Quality-assured manufacturing
• The proper collection and storage of medicines on arrival
• The reliability of governments, and the absence of any corruption
• Integrity of the supply chain to prevent counterfeit medicines
• Good transport distribution and regular re-supply
• Healthcare professionals administer the medicines and monitor the outcomes. Access to medicines is particularly curtailed by inadequate numbers of healthcare professionals

Differential pricing
In order to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, global efforts have to be concentrated where they are needed most – those countries that are poorest and/or carry disproportionate disease burdens.

The majority of pharmaceutical companies have developed some form of "differential pricing" for some of their product range. For low income countries, as defined by the Department for International Development in 2005₁, this is commonly at or around cost; for middle income countries prices are at levels substantially less than in the developed world.
For both low and middle income countries, it is worth noting that about 95 per cent of medicines on the World Health Organisation's (WHO) list of essential medicines are off-patent₂.

1. Increasing people's access to essential medicines in developing countries: a framework for good practice in the pharmaceutical industry. A UK Government policy paper, DFID, March 2005.
2. IFPMA Issues: Intellectual Property Rights. Available at: http://www.ifpma.org/Issues/index.php?id=418