In the last years of the 20th century, the world was struck by a plague epidemic - AIDS, life-threatening disease, which stubbornly immune to any drug or vaccine. In the developed countries of the West, AIDS is slowly brought under control through a combination of education, prevention, and advanced medicines. But in developing countries, where health care costs are often insignificant, AIDS continues to rage. By 2000, 25 million people in Africa alone have been infected with the disease. Millions have died. Almost all drugs that are considered AIDS was developed - a lot of money - from the big Western pharmaceutical companies. These drugs were expensive to produce and often difficult to manage. They demanded that the income level and distribution structures, which were often in very short supply in developing countries. Increasingly, activist groups demanded that pharmaceutical companies respond to the AIDS epidemic with drastic measures, giving her medication for free or waiver of patent rights, which have long protect their intellectual property. Pharmaceutical companies needed to respond to his critics. The question is how? "Hide
by Nicholas Bartlett, Debora L. Spar Source: HBS Premier Case Collection 24 pages. Publication Date: June 13, 2002. Prod. #: 702049-PDF-ENG
