(this is an attempt to make a kind of pamphlet with a hint of sarcasm ...)
Thanks to the awareness being made worldwide on the HCV market, that generic drugs are cheap and effective, I imagine that politicians face hard times today attempting to take the decision about how to treat the patients in their countries (with branded or generic medication):
- to decide for branded medication would be fine, but today there is a problem: on one side it would mean they will become "friends" with Big Pharma, they could use the rights provided by the patent laws which would allow them to purchase the medication, however the high prices and the "lack" of money will "force" the politicians to define discriminatory access criteria for the patients. More and more patients know these days that generic drugs are same effective with the branded ones and much much cheaper. To make things even worse, the politicians being in opposition know too that the generic drugs are much cheaper, so I imagine that the opposition just can't wait to see the party in power deciding to allocate millions/billions of $ for the branded medication (and the discriminatory treatment access criteria) in order to show how the public money is being wasted and to launch accusations that the party in power is favoring certain .... entities.
- to decide for generic medication would also be fine, but here too there is a problem: Big Pharma does not like it ... Apart from this, a political decision towards generic medication would imply that the politicians will really have to work, and I mean to seriously work, in order to find solutions for all the legal&political aspects that would be required in order to introduce generic drugs on the market.
Today (more and more) patients know that HCV generics work, today (more and more) doctors know the same, I would even dare to say that today (more and more) politicians know the same truth, thus deciding which way to go ("branded" vs. "generics") must be a ... nightmare for them.
So... I guess that avoiding to take any kind of decision would be the "preferred" approach for a politician.....from today.
But not even this is without risks. People need treatment. People demand treatment. People know that cheap and effective treatment exist.
So.... yeah, it must be hard today to be a politician ....
P.S. The attempt to make this pamphlet (I hope I did not offend anybody) was inspired by watching recently in television a debate about HCV where the doctors being invited to the show struggled a lot ... to avoid pronouncing the words "generic HCV drugs" or "cheaper and effective solutions". I guess that the doctor who will dare to say on the national television the words "generic HCV drugs work" will be the national hero (.... in my country, of course).
Cheers,
RHF
