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December 03, 2006
Big Pharming Deal
A deal among a group of big pharmaceutical companies to pledge to sell AIDS medicine at low cost has fallen through, according to one of the negotiators. While the top of a story from The Independent makes it sound like drugmakers are reneging on promises, it seems more that the companies never reached any agreement. It appears that a union was the prime force trying to bring the companies together, and it is the union rep who says the deal is dead. The companies complained the union's plan did not have enough details. As the story notes, drug companies have sponsored many individual efforts to lower prices or distribute free medicine, so it's not clear why signing an agreement to do so in principle would constitute a major step.
Posted by Adam Graham-Silverman at December 3, 2006 02:52 AM