Wouldn't you know, it's the head of a major pharmaceuticals company:
And such a good head for positive PR, too.
It seems that India has what's called a "compulsory license":
We should have a system like that.
By the way, how much do you suppose Dekker's makes a year?
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| Bayer CEO Marijn Dekkers |
In 2005, the FDA granted approval for a promising new cancer-fighting drug called Nexavar. Bayer took it to market shortly thereafter, and it is currently an approved treatment for late-stage kidney and liver cancer.
That is, so long as you live in the developed world. In a recently published interview in Bloomberg Businessweek, Bayer CEO Marijn Dekkers said that his company’s drug isn’t for poor people.
“We did not develop this medicine for Indians…we developed it for western patients who can afford it,” he said back in December. The quote is quickly making its way across Indian news outlets.
And such a good head for positive PR, too.
It seems that India has what's called a "compulsory license":
Under Indian patent laws, if a product is not available locally at a reasonable cost, other companies may apply for licenses to reproduce those products at a more affordable price. Nexavar costs an estimated $69,000 for a full year of treatment in India, 41 times the country’s annual per capita income.
In 2012, Indian pharmaceutical company Natco Pharma Ltd. applied for just such a license, and it was granted. The company began reproducing the drug at a 97 percent discount, offering it for just $177.
We should have a system like that.
By the way, how much do you suppose Dekker's makes a year?
1 comment:
Dekkers makes a combined salary and options and bonuses of €5,623,000 p.a., as of the most recent figures (2012). He's 56.
Too bad the US doesn't have the same sort of licensing laws as India's, especially considering that so much of the R&D involved in bringing new medicines to market is either done by or paid by the NIH with our tax dollars.
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