Inhabitants of many economically unstable nations are deprived of the basic right to medicine due to not being able to afford them. This causes several fatalities in these areas annually.
One of the solutions to this problem is encouraging drug companies to make the medicines available at lower prices so that more people can have access to them. This can have long term benefits for both the citizens and the companies. Looking at the benefits to citizens, more people would be able to cure themselves leading to a healthier work force which may even benefit the country’s economy in the long-run. Pharmaceuticals can also benefit from the increased sales they may experience by a reduction in their prices. Since medicines are price-elastic products in poorer countries, even a small reduction in price may boost up the demand by a significantly larger margin, boosting the overall revenue of these companies.
On the other hand, many people in developing countries are of the belief that they can be cured by home remedies and do not need to take medicine. For example, many traditional families in Pakistan prefer curing themselves through natural herbs rather than consulting their physician as they think that the chemicals in the drugs will cause them more harm rather than benefit them. This belief may cause the demand to remain low despite of the changes in price of medicine and force drug companies to close their operations in such places.
Conclusively, I believe that although reducing drug prices may have a positive impact on the fatality rates but along with the reduction in prices, awareness programs should also be setup to encourage people to consult a medical practitioner rather than trying to cure themselves on their own as they do not know about the gravity of their disease.