PHARMACEUTICAL TRADE
Protectionist drugs policy will hurt region
Quality and value of pharmaceutical products should trump regional protectionist interests in the East African Community, writes Jasson Urbach
Governments of the East African Community (EAC) have made a fatal error. Their decision to give preferential treatment to local manufacturers of pharmaceutical products will not "create" a thriving pharmaceutical industry. Instead, it will adversely affect their sickest and most vulnerable members of society. The decision may even prove life-threatening for the very people the governments hope to assist. At the EAC conference held in Nairobi towards the end of last year, it was decided that "preferential treatment of locally produced pharmaceutical products in government procurement is key to creating the necessary demand for locally manufactured products and thus more investments. To this end, the governments of East African Partner States and the private sector are called upon to give a preferential margin of up to 30% to the domestic manufacturers." Protectionist policies will not improve access to medicines, nor will they improve quality. Under the guise of improving access to h...
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