OpenForum – a blog by the Health and Human Rights community

A recent editorial by the Lancet asserts that pharmaceutical companies have the responsibility to improve access to health, and that “companies must be better held to public account in relation to those responsibilities.” These comments stem from a recent UN human rights report on pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK) policies concerning the right to health.

UN Special Rapporteur Paul Hunt visited GSK in 2008 to assess its current practices with regards to its responsibility in improving access to medicines. Hunt was invited to complete his assessment by GSK, which is one of the largest research-based pharmaceutical companies in the world. It has been both lauded and criticized for its attitude and actions towards developing nations and the poor’s access to medicine. In 2008, it was ranked first out of 20 pharmaceutical companies in enhancing access to medicines by an independent foundation. It is one of the few pharmaceutical companies to promote research on diseases primarily affecting developing countries, such as malaria and tuberculosis. However, it was also involved in the now infamous lawsuit filed by over 30 pharmaceutical companies in 1998 against the South African government challenging their Medicines and Related Substance Act. This Act allowed compulsory licensing and parallel importation, and was intended to reduce the high cost of HIV/AIDS drugs in South Africa. The companies eventually dropped their lawsuit in response to significant international criticism. Read more

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), the world’s second-largest pharmaceutical company, has announced in its annual corporate responsibility report that it will donate more than 800 patents to a pool that will be open to all researchers trying to develop medicines for 16 neglected diseases, according to the Wall Street Journal. It also pledged to cut the price of 110 patented medicines in LDCs, the world’s poorest 50 nations.

Balancing intellectual property rights with global health considerations has long been a contentious issue in public health. The $800bn pharmaceutical industry has been criticized in recent years for putting profits ahead of the needs of people in the developing world. This announcement marks an important step toward increasing access to medicine in the developing world, and following through with several of the recommendations made by Paul Hunt, U.N. Special Rapporteur on the right to health from 2002-2008. Two years ago, he estimated that 2 billion people don’t have access to essential drugs, and urged that drugmakers support research for neglected diseases and cut prices in poor countries, among other recommendations in his guidelines for pharmaceuticals. Finally, a step in the right direction.

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