Despite considerable investments in research and development (R&D) and the availability of powerful scientific and technological tools, innovation in the pharmaceutical industry has declined drastically in the last decade. In addition, most of the new molecules introduced into the market do not entail genuine therapeutic innovations or target the diseases that prevail in developing countries. Most importantly, the prices charged for new pharmaceutical products are unaffordable to the poor and, increasingly, to patients and social security systems, even in developed countries.

The lack of appropriate treatments for many of the diseases afflicting developing countries leads to millions of deaths per year. Governments have the responsibility to provide effective solutions to this problem. They have an ethical imperative to do so, but also the duty to see that the right to health, recognized under international law and many national constitutions, is guaranteed...