People Need More Drugs Fast...

This article is about how Roche, a drug-producing company in Switzerland, is looking for outside companies to help produce a drug called Tamiflu. This brand name drug (there is not a generic for it yet) has become important recently because of its ability to treat (not cure) the seasonal flu, and therefore can be useful in fighting the new H5N1 strain of bird flu that has recently swept parts of the world. This potentially harmful flu has increased the demand of Tamiflu all over the world, and the Roche drug company simply cannot keep up with the new demand.

The Roche company has asked other companies in other countries to help them produce the drug (Argentina and Taiwan have offered to produce their own versions). The company also offered to "get around" the patent in order for another company to help produce the drug. This a big deal because the patents on drugs are what allow a drug company to profit from what it produces. For example, a patent is the reason that generic drugs don't come out for several years after a brand drug is sold on the market. Once a drug's patent is up, other companies are allowed to produce the "generic" of the drug. This is a big step for a company to ignore the patent and allow the early reproduction of the drug. This is all done, Roche says, to make sure that people who are sick get their medication. The focus is less on profits and more on the health of people in the world in this case.

Looking at this case economically, will the early reproduction of Tamiflu by competing companies hurt Roche's profits in the short run? In the long run? Will the company's profits increase because people look at the Roche company as being a more humanistic company, that is genuinely concerned with the health of the people in the world? Do you think that the Roche company is doing a good thing by trying to reproduce the drug now?