The ever-vocal Medécins Sans Frontiers has just issued a call for pharmaceutical companies to develop new paedriatric drugs for children suffering from AIDS in poor countries.
"In the absence of child-strength pills that combine all needed drugs in one tablet, medical staff and caregivers are often forced to crush combination pills meant for adults," MSF said in a statement issued in Kenya ahead of the World AIDS Day on Thursday.
This all sounds eminently sensible.
But is the same Médecins Sans Frontiers that repeatedly calls for compulsory licenses on currently existing AIDS drugs?
If a company goes to the expense of developing these drugs, only to have their property expropriated, it seems unlikely that they will bother in the first place. And when a company does eventually produce these medicines, you can bet MSF will be yelling the loudest for a compulsory license.
Is it any wonder that the number of HIV/AIDS drugs in the pipeline is declining?
Come on MSF. Let's try to be a bit more rational!
