Diseases of rich deprive poor of drugs

[dweller]

Anushka Asthana
Sunday September 11, 2005
The world's poorest people are being denied access to drugs
because pharmaceutical companies are focusing their
resources on diseases suffered by wealthy, middle-aged
Americans, such as obesity and heart disease, a leading
expert will say tomorrow.

Dr David Rhodes, the Health Protection Agency's (HPA) head
of business development, will claim that spiralling costs are
driving firms to invest primarily in drugs that tackle diseases of
'older Americans'.

As a result, the international market has been flooded with
medicines to treat 'American diseases' such as high blood
pressure, obesity, heart disease and cancer, while drugs to
tackle tuberculosis, malaria and water-borne diseases
prevalent in the poorest countries have been neglected.

Presenting his research at the HPA's annual conference
tomorrow, Rhodes will show that more and more
pharmaceutical companies are moving their headquarters to
the US in search of profits. Once there, they pump money into
treatments that help the local population to live longer.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1567304,00.html

let's see what tomorrow brings.
dp

[undergroundpanther]

1. Another

erectile disfunction drug(we have too many people on this planet already we don't need more!) or baldness treatment.. Damn.

[TomInTib]

2. mmmhmmm...but no morning after pill...I guess we're just trying to

make sure the rich old geezer contributors to the cause can still get it up with their second or third trophy wives and "screw" the rest of the country.

[applegrove]

3. This has been going on for ages. Thankfully Bill Gates is trying to do

something on his own.

[MercutioATC]

4. Are you trying to say that obesity and heart disease are "rich" maladies??

Look at the statistics...I think you'll find that the poor suffer much more from heart disease and other obesity-related diseases the the wealthy.

[dweller]

5. i'll defer to the experts

and the reports supposedly released tomorrow.

just a messenger.
dp

[MercutioATC]

6. That's cool.

I'm certainly not a medical professional.

:)