Employees are dependent on the company for their livelihoods and the drug companies are dependent on the stockholders for their investments. .
The cost of doing business for a drug company is very expensive. They spend hundreds of millions of dollars on research and development. It is estimated that it cost between $500 to $800 million from the conception of a drug to the marketplace. Drug companies must also comply with the rules and regulations of the Food and Drug Administration regarding clinical drug studies that requires thousands of human volunteers which is also very expensive. (Prusoff A19).
The standard cost for an AIDS patient in the United States and other developed countries for antiretroviral drugs is $10,000 to $15,000 per year. This is a price that South Africa can not afford. Even if the prices had been discounted to a price that still allowed the company to make a minimal profit, they still would have been unaffordable to a country where the average yearly income is $500 or less.
Profitability does not begin and end with a single drug. Profits made from one invention finance research and development for the next creation.
Another valid reason why drug companies have opposed selling their drugs at discounted prices has been to protect their patent rights. Patents entitle drug companies array of privileges. It allows them to market their drug for a specific amount of time, usually 20 years, without competition from other drug companies or other generic drug companies. They can also set the price of the drug as they see fit. The patent justifies the high cost of drugs because it can sometimes take more than 10 years and millions of dollars to develop and test a drug. Once the drug is on the market it can easily be copied by a competitor at a relatively small price if it is not patented. Even with a patent, drug companies can be forced to license their patents to other drug companies or other generic manufacturers in the event of a national health emergency.
AIDS in Africa Africa is fighting a loosing battle against AIDS. ... Economically AIDS is greatly affecting Africa. ... AIDS is defiantly impacting Africa in many ways. AIDS is spreading in Africa for a couple of reasons. ... There are many reasons Africa's AIDS numbers are growing. ...
The AIDS crisis in Africa has become an enormous problem that cannot and should not be ignored. Out of all of the people in the world with AIDS, at least one third reside in Africa. Why do such a large number of people with AIDS exist solely in Africa? ... What can be done about the AIDS problem in Africa? ... AIDS has the potential to create severe economic impacts in many African countries. ...
Sub-Saharan Africa is by far the region worst affected by HIV and Aids, according to the World Health Organization's latest report on the disease. Aids Epidemic Update says there were 3.4 million new HIV infections in Africa in 2001, almost 70% of the global total. ... The African governments have responded to the AIDS epidemic primarily by attempting to reduce the number of new HIV infections, and to some degree, by trying compensate the damage done by AIDS to families, societies, and economies. ... Efforts to reduce the number of AIDS infections have focused on increasing AIDS awarene...
South of the Sahara, HIV and AIDS are worse than anywhere else in the world, and this catastrophe is transforming the continent forever. ... President Bush has recently allocated billions of dollars of spending to be used to combat HIV/AIDS in Africa. ... Anyhow, Communicable diseases more contagious than AIDS remain a problem, making AIDS just one of them. ... It is an unbiased killer that threatens the African population. With very little education, parentless children, and cultural and societal beliefs, AIDS will continue to run havoc on the continent of Africa. ...
AIDS IN AFRICA. What is AIDS and how is it transmitted? ... AIDS kills about 6000 people in Africa each day. ... Another factor that is causing the AIDS epidemic to skyrocket in Africa is poverty. ... Increasingly sophisticated treatments have cut the death AIDS death rate in the industrialized countries, but not in Africa the epidemic is gathering momentum. ...
Nowhere is this better demonstrated than in sub-Saharan Africa, where the number of Aids cases far exceeds that of all other geographic regions. ... One out of seven children in South-Saharan Africa will be AIDS orphans by the year 2005. ... The mining industry will suffer since it is dependant on labor from South African rural areas and other neighboring African countries, where the AIDS rate is the highest in the world. ... Few Africans can afford the drugs needed to fight AIDS, which can cost between $500 and $1,000 a month. ... No crisis poses such a threat to human dignity as the cris...
The Economic Impact of Aids In South Africa For over ten years South Africa has been in denial of its most threatining problem. ... "AIDS makes most of South Africa's other problems seem trivial-(8210:8). ... The first case of AIDS in South Africa occured in 1987, where as the countries farther north than South Africa had their first AIDS cases way before. ... "A Quarter of a million South Africans were killed by AIDS last year. ... Many firms in South Africa are providing classes on AIDS. ...
AIDS IN AFRICA AIDS is the number one cause of death in Africa and the fourth globally (Mayell 27). ... The AIDS virus has extremely affected the continent of Africa. ... South Africa continues to be the most severely hit region of Africa by the AIDS virus. ... The AIDS epidemic in Africa has created several problems. ... Jeffery Bartholet of Newsweek reports that since the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, 14.8 million Africans have died from AIDS and 2.6 million AIDS deaths occurred in 1999. ...
Africa continues to dwarf the rest of the world in how the region has been affected by AIDS. ... The HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa will not be stopped with drugs and "abstinence only" education, Sex education and condom availability are required for this battle. ... Condoms not only prevent HIV/AIDS but can also help control Africa's growing population challenge. ... My aunt died of AIDS when I was 13years old. ... The doctor informed my aunt that she had AIDS and passed it on to her son. ...
For the past two decades multinational drug companies have turned a blind eye on the AIDS epidemic in South Africa by refusing to sell antiretroviral drugs to them at discounted prices. ... There are more than 25 million people in sub-Saharan Africa infected with the HIV virus that causes AIDS. ... In the last six months 39 multinational drug companies have agreed to lower their drug prices to make them more affordable to AIDS patients in South Africa. ... It is unfortunate that the AIDS epidemic in South Africa had been ignored for the past 20 years. ... Thankfully, WW II is over, but the...
