Legal but poorly made, or substandard, drugs can be lethal. The problem is most prevalent in emerging markets, where gross flaws in production, especially by domestic producers selling only in local markets, are easily detected by simple quality-control tests. These problems will worsen as more...

This Health Policy Outlook assesses the market for chronic disease medications such as antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) to treat HIV/AIDS. A tiered, or differential, pricing structure serves public health by ensuring the greatest affordability of patented drugs as well as maximizing profits to the...

The research-based pharmaceutical industry has a key role in improving access to medicines. By continuing to pursue innovative research and development (R&D), it can improve the availability and effectiveness of drugs. By adopting tiered prices for more drugs — charging people in different...

Drug procurement agencies and organizations spend billions of dollars on drugs for patients in the developing world. These drugs are essential to the health of many millions of patients — but only if they are safe and effective. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Global Fund to Fight...

China’s pharmaceutical market has experienced significant growth in recent years, fueled by increasing wealth among its own population as well as accelerating global demand for cheap, effective medicines to treat ailments ranging from high cholesterol to HIV/AIDS. Along with India, China...

Lifesaving drugs donated by taxpayers to developing countries are being stolen, strengthening criminal gangs and undermining donor intent. More worryingly, some donors are not investigating this problem sufficiently; rather, they are moving ahead with programs that have the same inherent...

With the entire US budget on the chopping block, small-ticket items such as the US global health budget — a total expenditure of around $8.6 billion — will necessarily attract less attention than sequestration of the defense budget or cuts to Social Security. But while America’s global...