Bitter Pills:Medicines & The Third World Poor | Page 52
vitamins and minerals) popular amongst the well-to-do in Mexico.|VSI). A second
of Roche's best-selling products was Redoxon. This, despite the fact that
Dr. Brudon - who carried out the research - calculated that Mexicans could have
obtained their necessary vitamin C intake by buying oranges - at one tenth of the
cost of Redoxon. (l00)
In the next chapter we focus on the critical area of prices. But to sum up the equally
important question of the type of drugs that major manufacturers choose to market
in developing countries: lip service is increasingly being paid to the need for a
limited selection of essential drugs for developing countries. But in most cases
the need to stick to priorities to benefit the majority is applied only to the public
requirements of the public health services. Attempts to reduce private sales of
non-essential drugs have often been fiercely resisted. "Ol)
A 1980 report "based on the opinions of individuals in the industry", with the
title "Opportunities for Pharmaceuticals in the Developing World over the next
twenty years", is - to say the least - not encouraging. It states:''The most important
requirements for drugs by the developing countries will continue to be for
antibiotics, cough and cold preparations, vitamins, analgesics, hormones and
tonics, but demand for other types will increase in line with the extent of greater
urbanisation and industrialisation."