Increased access to affordable therapies has prompted African leaders at this week's International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa to meet with generic drug companies that may be able to offer the drugs for a fraction of what major drug companies have proposed. The secretive meetings are taking place with generic drug companies based in Brazil and India -countries not bound by the same patent laws. The move may be a pressure tactic that will cause pharmaceutical companies to slash prices even more. But further price cuts in poor counties or the use of generics could hurt the pharmaceuticals ability to competitively market patented products in the United States and other Western countries. Doctors without Borders said reduced pricing would not hurt drugmakers' bottom line.
Companies can survive and prosper if prices are lower in poor countries.
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