ACCESS TO MEDICINES IS A GLOBAL STRUGGLE

摘要

A third of the world's population lacks access to essential medicines. In many low and medium-income countries, drug therapies are unaffordable to those who need them. The availability of generic products has a major influence on the price of medicines in developing markets. The medical aid charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) reports that generic competition has lowered the price of antiretrovirals from more than US$10,000 per patient per year in 2000 to US$67 today. This has helped to galvanise the fight against HIV in many of the worst affected countries.