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Science 17 March 2000:
Vol. 287. no. 5460, pp. 1979 - 1981
DOI: 10.1126/science.287.5460.1979
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The Global Drug Gap

Michael R. Reich *

Global inequities in access to pharmaceutical products exist between rich and poor countries because of market and government failures as well as huge income differences. Multiple policies are required to address this global drug gap for three categories of pharmaceutical products: essential drugs, new drugs, and yet-to-be-developed drugs. Policies should combine "push" approaches of financial subsidies to support targeted drug development, "pull" approaches of financial incentives such as market guarantees, and "process" approaches aimed at improved institutional capacity. Constructive solutions are needed that can both protect the incentives for research and development and reduce the inequities of access.

Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: reich{at}hsph.harvard.edu

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Modernizing Disease Management: A Question of Priorities.
S. P. Weisberg (2000)
JAMA 284, 2784
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