WHAT’S GOT into Big Pharma? A few months ago leading drugs companies were
threatening to sue the South African government over its plans to import cheap
copies of patented AIDS drugs. Then, suddenly, they backed down and said they
would supply the same drugs to poor countries at discounted rates. Now they are
about to give the poor world cheap tuberculosis drugs
(see “Lives before profit”).
Cynics might sniff a PR exercise. But it would be churlish not to welcome the
news. Tuberculosis is a nasty illness that already claims between 2 and 3
million lives a year and…
