While drug companies have been energetically researching and developing treatments, there has been very little work so far on developing either a vaccine or a microbicide because they are considered less profitable. We have respect for what you are doing. But we don't like you.'' Richard Horton, editor of the The Lancet, a respected British medical journal, told the closing ceremony that he noticed ''again and again'' scientists from Europe and North America walking out of presentations by delegates from developing countries. The next World AIDS Conference will be held in Durban, South Africa. The Durban conference will try to keep developing country concerns at the heart of the the proceedings,'' he told the audience.
Work also needs to be done to narrow the gap between private companies and government agencies.
They must be active players. There were 125 pharmaceutical companies involved in the conference, pooling two million dollars towards the conference costs. Horton said it seemed to him that ''we don't like to bite the hand that feeds us. Close to 90 percent of them will not even be aware of the fact, because even testing kits are not available in these countries in sufficient numbers. It is a reality that delegates from developing countries said they knew only too well.