Bitter Pills:Medicines & The Third World Poor | Page 200

that the industry as a whole is doing well by comparison with other sectors of
industry. In the words of a June 1982 Financial Times Survey, "The
pharmaceutical industry has passed through the recession almost unscathed".
Moreover, "the companies that originate and produce the world's key medicines
have every reason to be confident about their current performance and
prospects".<175)
The healthy financial state of drug manufacturers is further confirmed by a senior
executive with 30 years working experience in the industry itself. "In
Pharmaceuticals there has been a tendency to resist all new regulations and to
assume, yet again, that somehow, if only we could get through the next year then
things will be 'back to normal'. The public stance of the industry has been to state
categorically that if the regulations are not relaxed, then no new medicines will
appear - or at least, so few as to force theindustry to stop research and deny the
public access to the new medicines to which it has a right. The financial results
of the industry continue to be an embarrassing counter argument ..." (l76)
The poor are not going to get the drugs they need unless Third World governments
can count on widespread support in implementing what may be seen as unpopular
controls on the free market. Governments of the major drug-producing nations
have all voted in favour of WHO resolutions urging Third World governments
to adopt the sort of policies that the Bangladesh Government has now resolved
to introduce. The support of WHO, of rich world governments, and of professional
and public opinion worldwide is now essential for the successful implementation
of new health-centred drug policies throughout the Third World. This cooperation
and understanding is vital to protect the health interests of millions of the
world's poor.

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