The Monopolization of Drugs by Pharmaceutical Corporations
In addition to globalized intellectual property rights laws allowing multinational pharmaceutical companies to legally steal from rural and/or indigenous areas of the global South, they also allow pharmaceutical companies to have a monopoly over their finished products, therefore restricting the poorest from accessing drugs which may mean the difference between life, and death. For example, the AIDS medication Azidothymidine (AZT) is usually used along with one or more other drugs as a standard way of ensuring that an AIDS patient can extend their life expectancy (Gewertz and Amado, 2004). The issue with this medication, however, is that a pharmaceutical corporation called GlaxoSmithKline owns the patent over it, and is able to change the price of it when they see fit (Gewertz and Amado, 2004). Due to this monopoly in which GlaxoSmithKline holds over AZT, most people suffering with AIDS cannot afford it. According to the African Development Forum, if in sub-Saharan Africa 50% of those diagnosed with AIDS were given AZT therapy, it would cost over 80 billion dollars, while anti-retroviral therapy would cost over 50% of the GDP of many nations in the area (as cited in Gewertz and Amado, 2004). Pharmaceutical companies have reduced the price of anti-HIV medications, yet most AIDS patients can still not afford them (Gewertz and Amado, 2004). What else can be done to force the pharmaceutical industry to change its ways?
Although these corporations may argue that they will not be able to stay in business if they are to lower the prices of their drugs too much, something has to be done so as to make sure that those who need medications most are able to access them. If local governments and/or global health organizations were to provide more subsidies to the pharmaceutical corporations, the price of drugs would theoretically decrease (Gewertz and Amado, 2004). Also, pharmaceutical corporations need to assume greater moral responsibility and allow the licensing of patented drugs to occur at reduced or even better, marginal costs (Gewertz and Amado, 2004). Even if these strategies were to be practiced globally, however, they are not radical enough to create unlikely structural changes which will make medications affordable for everyone. The status quo will likely continue since the poorest nations do not have much of a chance to voice their concerns in the international sphere, and because the middle class has become so accustomed to the consumer goods in which capitalism provides. Due to this, it is unlikely that they will want to have an uprising which will put life as they know it in jeopardy.
The Threat to Biodiversity Posed by Intellectual Property Right Laws