Should Big Pharma use rich country profits to subsidise poor countries?
Maybe. But there are problems. One is that their rich customers might not like being “taxed” in that way. Another is that even in poor countries there are rich customers. Why should they get things cheap? A good lead: in Evidence: “UN Commission examines pharma patents” Public money pays for Big Pharma research. How is this fair? One might argue that it’s good that state-funded work researches medicines (though a strict free-market point of view thinks the state should keep its nose out of such matters). If the state is involved, we would presumably want the public bodies to sell or licence their work to the highest-bidding private firms. (Check “federal” in our search device) Big Pharma pays universities to do research: isn’t that bad for academic freedom? University scientists do have to make sure they remain bold and honest, irrespective of where their money comes from. (See AHRP view in Opinion section.) Actually, though, the academics who do make a fuss when they believe there is
