Bitter Pills:Medicines & The Third World Poor | Page 191

We have already discussed industry's contribution to research into developing
new drugs to treat tropical diseases. Some of this research is being carried out
in developing countries, as in the case of four laboratories set up by the Wellcome
Trust with profits made by Wellcome's manufacturing companies. <118)
Manufacturers have shown that they are open to persuasion and have cooperated
with Third World governments in voluntarily agreeing to withdraw potentially
harmful products. For example, Glaxo's subsidiary in Bangladesh agreed to
withdraw its combined penicillin and streptomycin products, sold under the brand
name Seclomycin. "19). Meanwhile, some years ago Fisons (Bangladesh) Ltd was
asked by the health authorities to produce fewer tonics and more life-saving drugs.
In response, local managers claim that the company has been exploring the
possibility of producing more speciality drugs to treat TB, cancer, hypertension
and diabetes under licence from other manufacturers. <120) In India, Glaxo is
responding positively to the Government's desire for foreign companies to produce
more bulk drugs as opposed to formulations. Already, 15 drugs and intermediates
are manufactured locally from the basic stages and Glaxo plans to expand basic
drug production to include a further nine drugs to treat intestinal worms, diarrhoea
and dysentery, heart disease, allergies and arthritis. (l21)
Many industry spokesmen readily acknowledge that it makes sense for Third World
governments to have limited drug selections for the public health services. But
they resist the idea of a limited selection being applied to the private market. In
response to our suggestion that manufacturers should only market essential drugs
in poor countries, a senior executive of Ciba-Geigy expressed the view that "This
is a difficult question because of the needs of the prosperous minority in contrast
to the bulk who are often very poor. I think the local health departments have
to determine basic needs and draw up their version of the WHO 200 drugs list.
I don't think one can suspend the normal basis of commerce except by government
decree in a Communist type society, and many Third World countries do not want
this." (122)
ADDRESSING THE CRITICS, NOT THE CRITICISMS
In listing six "lessons" to be learnt from the Anti Infant Formula Campaign (which
led to the adoption of a code of marketing practice) a recent article in Business
International urges manufacturers to "address the issue, not the critics". (123>
Nonetheless, industry representatives have shown a marked tendency to devote
their energies to accusing their critics of political extremism rather than focussing
on the criticims they make.
For example, according to Lewis Engman, President of the US Pharmaceutical
Manufacturers Association, "The ultimate concern of at least some of the people
behind the campaign for a WHO pharmaceutical marketing code is not the health
of the Third World consumers. The ultimate concern is economic change in the
direction of state control, and ultimately state ownership of private concerns.
As such the code movement is part and parcel of the movement toward a new
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