A document recently crossed my desk that was so seminal Ineeded to share it with my colleagues through this column.  I can only highlight the big pieces foryou and suggest that you read the document yourself.

I would like to send you in the direction of a report byOxfam, a group whose work is spread around the world but often focuses onhealthcare delivery, or rather the absence thereof, to the poor.  The report is titled Investing forLife—Meeting Poor People’s Needs for Access to Medicines through ResponsibleBusiness Practices.

In this report, Oxfam maintains that one of the majorresponsibilities of pharma companies is to develop and distribute meds tounderdeveloped countries that cannot afford to pay for these agents.  Until now, Oxfam maintains, theindustry has provided such access primarily as a PR stunt, i.e., taking alreadydeveloped medications for diseases such as AIDS/HIV and distributing them tothe needy at minimal pricing, thus permitting them to hold forth to the worldtheir humanitarian behavior.  

Asunderdeveloped countries become more like the developed countries, withlow-visibility killers such as hypertension becoming the real problems, Oxfamsays that most pharma companies have no plan in place to deliver meds to thepoor, let alone develop new products in areas that might only be of use in suchpoor countries, thus denying the company the opportunity to recoup itsinvestment in R&D by selling the agents in developed countries. 

The report makes the point that pharma companies need todevelop a plan to ensure that a country’s ability to pay for medications isfactored into strategies that companies develop.  From a moral perspective, Oxfam points out, we can no longerignore this consideration. 

Richard Vanderveer is group CEO, GfK US Healthcare Companies