Keywords
Citation
(2013), "2012 Awards for Excellence", International Journal of Development Issues, Vol. 12 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijdi.2013.37112aaa.001
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2013, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
2012 Awards for Excellence
Article Type: 2012 Awards for Excellence From: International Journal of Development Issues, Volume 12, Issue 1
The following article was selected for this year’s Outstanding Paper Award for International Journal of Development Issues
“Encouraging pharmaceutical innovation to meet the needs of both developed and developing countries”
Christopher J. LongoDeGroote School of Business, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada
Purpose – Current pharmaceutical global pricing strategies functionally exclude developing countries from the market for drugs to treat many diseases. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate some of the proposed patent reward models to determine their feasibility in the current environment.
Design/methodology/approach – A review of a variety of proposals including special financing or tax arrangements, public-private partnerships, and government-funded patent purchases are briefly reviewed. A more in-depth examination of the recently proposed health impact fund (HIF) is undertaken.
Findings – In brief, the HIF requires developed countries to donate to a fund that finances the release of pharmaceutical patents. The pharmaceutical companies would be reimbursed over a ten-year period from the government donation pool based on the medicine’s health impact. The expected consequence of this policy would be affordable medicines for developed and developing countries. This examination highlights deficiencies in the current HIF strategy and offers a number of suggestions mostly focused on a more balanced sharing of the inherent risks in pharmaceutical product development to improve the strategies viability.
Practical implications – Although among the proposed strategies, the HIF offers the most promise, the suggested changes would result in a program viewed more favourably by the pharmaceutical industry and participating countries.
Originality/value – Although it is recognized that pricing challenges are limiting the availability to essential medications in developing countries, current strategies often ignore many of the market dynamics for pharmaceuticals. This critique, focused on the HIF strategy, is presented in an effort to improve the likely success of the most promising of these strategies.
Keywords: Developing countries, Ethics, Patents, Pharmaceutical products, Pricing
www.emeraldinsight.com/10.1108/14468951111123346
This article originally appeared in Volume 10 Number 1, 2011, pp. 92-101 International Journal of Development Issues
The following articles were selected for this year’s Highly Commended Award
“Political barriers to economic development in Russia: obstacles to modernization under Yeltsin and Putin”
Neil Robinson
This article originally appeared in Volume 10 Number 1, 2011, International Journal of Development Issues
“Ethno-cultural diversity and multidimensional poverty differential in Cameroon”
Paul Ningaye
This article originally appeared in Volume 10 Number 2, 2011, International Journal of Development Issues
“The development ethics approach to international development”
Nikos Astroulakis
This article originally appeared in Volume 10 Number 3, 2011, International Journal of Development Issues
Outstanding reviewers
Dr Kozo Otsuka,Ritsumeikan University, Japan
Dr Amitava Dutt,University of Norte Dame, USA