More passion from the impeccable Médecins Sans Frontières. Drug Companies and the Third World: A Case Study in Neglect.

“The poor have no consumer power, so the market has failed

them,” said Dr. James Orbinski, international president of

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières, the medical

agency whose work in war zones and in the third world won it

the Nobel Peace Prize last year. “I’m tired of the logic that says,

‘He who can’t pay, dies.’ ” [New York Times]. The agency advised African states not to sign new drug laws. “The medical relief agency Médecins Sans Frontières on Thursday called on a group of 15

African countries not to ratify new patent laws that it says could deny poor people access to life-saving

drugs. ‘The revised arrangement relating to intellectual property reinforces the monopoly given to patent-holders

beyond existing requirements in international trade rules and would cause a major obstacle to access to

medicines,’ MSF said in a statement.”