Group 1
Ethics ? BUS8300
Case Title: GlaxoSmithKline, Bristol-Meyer Squibb, and AIDS in Africa
Case Background
? In 1981, the US first noticed an alarming increase of a rare cancer among gay men. It was known to have afflicted a Bantu male in 1959 and possibly jumped from monkeys to human centuries earlier.
? In1982, the disease was termed AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) caused by HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus)
HIV is transmitted through the exchange of body fluids including blood, semen, vaginal fluids and breast milk; The main modes of infection are through unprotected sex, intravenous drug use and child birth.
? By 2000, according to United Nations, 5 million people were newly inflicted with AIDS each year, bringing the worldwide total of 34,300,000. Approximately 3 million people died of AIDS each year.
? Of the 5 million new cases of AIDS, 70% or 4 million were located in sub-Saharan Africa, which emerge as the ones most desperately in need of the treatment.
? In 1996, Dr. David Ho discovered the "cocktail", a combination of three or four classes of antiretroviral drugs. This new combination treatment will enable AIDS patients to live once again a normal, healthy life.
? The price of the combination treatment cost about $10,000 a year which patients in the sub-Saharan Africa could not afford considering their annual income at only $500.
? GlaxoSmithKline and Bristol-Myers Squibb and the other big drug companies are the patent holders of the antiretroviral drugs and they did not want to lower their prices.
? Patents in the US are the exclusive right to keep a ...