Cheap drugs could be a reality soon

January 2, 2007

Cheap drugs could be a reality soon: Report

Posted on : Tue, 02 Jan 2007 | Author : Blythe

LONDON - Cheap medicines could just be round the corner for developing

countries after two UK-based scientists said that they have found a

way of creating medicines in an innovative way by which they can be

introduced into the market at cheap prices.

The process will be started in India on a clinical trial basis and

will be sponsored by the Indian government. Sunil Shaunak, professor

of infectious diseases at Imperial College, and Steve Brocchini, from

the London School of Pharmacy, have teamed up with an Indian biotech

company to produce a drug for hepatitis C.

The cost of producing a new drug according to multinational companies

is around $800 million. However Shaunak said that the total cost of

development of their drug would be just a few million pounds. He added

that the patent of the drug would be held by the Imperial College who

will employ top patent lawyers to make sure that no one will block its

development.

Shaunak said that the time is right to break the monopoly of big

multinational corporations over the production of drugs. He added that

the companies would have to charge high prices for their drugs, as it

will have to show profit to its shareholders.

Speaking about the process, Shaunak said, " The pharmaceutical industry

has convinced us that we have to spend billions of pounds to invent

each drug. We have spent a few millions. Yes, it will be a threat to

the monopoly that there is. I'm not only an inventor of medicines; I'm

an end user. We have become so completely dependent on the big

pharmaceutical industry to provide all the medicines we use. "

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