Differential prices "are necessary and feasible"

The World Health Health Organization and the World Trade Organizationhave now published the report of the workshop which they held in Norway in April (Marketletter April 16 and 23), under the auspices of that country's Foreign Affairs Ministry, to discuss differential pricing and financing of essential drugs.

The discussions, which were led by WHO director general Gro Harlem Brundtland, were closed to the media, and the report notes that it was not the purpose of the meeting to seek agreed conclusions. However, it adds, there seemed to be a large measure of common thinking among participants on two central points.

First, they felt that differential pricing could and should play an important role in ensuring access to existing essential drugs at affordable prices, especially in poor countries, while allowing the patent system to continue to play its role of providing incentives for R&D.