Making Medicines Work

Dr. Ciara Conlon, Co-Founder of Access to Medicines Ireland wrote a forum article for Comhlamh highlighting that high drug prices aren't a result of manufacturing costs but what the market can bear.

"The hepatitis C drug Sofosbuvir, which is sold in the US for $1,000 (€930) a pill, is being made and sold at a profit in India for less than $5 a pill."

The article also proposes alternative models for incentivising R&D and making drug prices more affordable.

"New incentives for R&D such as grants, prizes and intellectual property pools aim to de-link the cost of R&D from the price of the medicine at the end."

For the full article: 

https://www.comhlamh.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Focus-101-Final-4-Prnt.pdf