Letters to the Editor
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IP vs. Social Justice
TANSTAAFL. - Robert Heinlein
There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.
Mr. Leonard hit the nail on the head. Drug companies are not in the business of social justice ... but at least some governments are. I have little sympathy for countries like Brazil. If they want inexpensive AIDS drugs there are two things that they can do. One is to pay development costs for the drug and be able to get the drug at cost (and if they own the patent, sell the drug and collect the royalties themselves).
The other venue is the approval of a drug for sale. FDA rules have raised the cost of drug development by upwards of a half a billion dollars without a visible payback other than a delayed availability of the drug and an increased incentive to lie about it's efficacy. So license the drug for sale in Brazil with less ho-ha than the US requires.
Brazil may have a very legitimate motivation but doesn't legitimize the literal equivalent of highway robbery.