ABSTRACT
For several years market leader in the pharmaceutical industry, GlaxoSmithKline, and other large multinational pharmaceutical companies, have been condemned for excessive pricing through patent strategies, which limits access to so called antiretroviral medicines (ARVs) (used to treat HIV and Aids) in areas where the disease is most prevalent: developing countries. Over the last ten years, the media, NGOs and even international governmental institutions have focused heavily on events relating to the industry’s ARV patent strategies. Oxfam joined with Médecins sans Frontières (MSF), VSO, Treatment Action Campaign, and other partners to cut the cost of the vital portfolio of HIV/Aids medicines. The NGO’s campaigns call for and bargain for reform of global patent rules, and challenge drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to take the lead within the pharmaceutical industry to promote poor people’s access to medicines by e.g. lowering their prices.
