European Alliance for Responsible R&D and Affordable Medicines: Joint Declaration
In Europe and worldwide, the price of new medicines is rising year on year, especially where there is no therapeutic alternative. As a result, treatment for life-threatening infections and diseases, like HIV/AIDS, cancer and hepatitis C, are increasingly unaffordable for both individuals and national health systems. This is the result of an ineffective and costly research and development (R&D) system that rewards new medicines with fixed-term monopolies (patents) and encourages unaffordable price setting. This patent-based system grants pharmaceutical companies monopolies, which allow them to charge exorbitant prices totally unconnected to the cost of developing and manufacturing the medicines. Urgent measures must be taken to ensure that people can afford the medicines they need. At the same time, new models of R&D must be engaged to meet therapeutic
needs.