AEI’s Roger Bate hosted a March 2 panel discussion on the future of HIV treatment, drawing upon recent research on how tariffs and taxes affect the research and development (R&D) of new, lifesaving drugs. His work and that of coauthors Richard Tren and Jasson Urbach of Africa Fighting Malaria on eliminating tariffs has recently been cited by Peter F. Allgeier, U.S. deputy trade representative and ambassador to the World Trade Organization.
Jerry Norris of the Hudson Institute called HIV/AIDS a “progressive chronic disease” and projected the costs of fulfilling the World Health Organization (WHO) target of providing universal AIDS treatment to 9 million people by 2010. Norris estimated that by 2010, 8 of the 9 million people being treated will require first-line therapies at a cost of $13.6 billion. Furthermore, he predicted that an additional $30.8 billion will be necessary to treat patients who require second-line therapies due to drug resistance.
Richard Tren examined Brazil’s efforts to combat HIV/AIDS. While he praised the Brazilian government for working to reduce HIV prevalence among high-risk populations and providing free antiretroviral treatment, he criticized it for trying to lower drug costs by threatening intellectual property rights, issuing compulsory licenses for certain medicines and breaking patents with pharmaceutical companies. Tren recommended that countries build long-term, sustainable treatment programs and recognize that “profit in health care is good and ultimately helps battle poverty.”
Jim Driscoll of the National Treatment Advocacy Project discussed changes in drug development over the years. In the 1990s, R&D escalated dramatically with media and political attention to the disease, the streamlining of the FDA drug approval process, and corporate anticipation of a profitable market. However, Driscoll noted that the recent shift in the AIDS market from “a smaller, more affluent market to a larger, poorer market” has negatively impacted R&D. Driscoll emphasized the need to develop drugs to treat deadly co-infections like hepatitis C, to lower regulatory barriers, and to eliminate taxes and tariffs on AIDS medications.
