Search

Reports developments related to medicine in Great Britain. Delay of the publication of the green paper report on general practice; Recommendation of the Social Services Select Committee for extra funding; Criticisms of the pharmaceutical price regulation scheme in the country.

This paper deals with the question of how to price drugs for tropical diseases. The thesis defended in the paper is: (i) there should be no legal constraints on the profits pharmaceutical companies can make on their products for tropical diseases. In essence, (i) expresses the idea that drugs for tropical diseases should be treated as any other product on the free market and that the producers of these drugs should be allowed to sell their products at whatever price the market can bear. The main argument in favour of (i) is first outlined. Five common arguments against (i) are thereafter discussed, and it is argued that all of these fail in their intended purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction to the journal is presented in which the editor discusses the updated time frame for the acceptance of articles for publication and various reports including one by Walter Glannon on the patient and physician relationship regarding intracranial brain stimulation and another by Sonderholm on the pricing of drugs to enhance health care accessibility.