A new geography of pharmaceuticals : Trajectories of artemisinin-based medicines
Résumé
The geography of artemisinin-based drug innovation and industry is uniquely distributed. Originally developed in China, it was subsequently globalized through the WHO, humanitarian medicine, and the multinational pharmaceutical companies Novartis and Sanofi. Dissemination was encouraged by the public and common good status of the basic molecules, which it was legal to duplicate and combine. The CTAs developed under the impetus of the Drugs and Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi) Foundation were also placed in the public domain. Novartis did not defend the patent that it co-owned with China on the combination of arthemeter and lumefantrine, while Sanofi exploited the combination of artesunate and amodiaquine that had not been patented by the DNDi. CTA production is now dominated by Indian generics producers, who market their WHO prequalified products in the global donor market, while copies from African producers are sold in local and regional markets. In 2011, the DNDi started to transfer the ASAQ technology to a factory in Tanzania, with the aim of obtaining WHO pre-qualification, which would be unprecedented in Africa for this type of drug. While Chinese firms have lost control of the CTA industry, China remains the main supplier of active ingredients, particularly natural artemisinin. India is one of the leading importers of Chinese APIs.
Domaines
Sociologie
Origine :
Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s)
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