Rosy Periwinkle And GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Flashcards
(10 cards)
What is the Rosy Periwinkle?
It is a plant that is harvested for its medicinal use, used to produce drugs to treat various types of cancer, including leukaemia and Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Where is the Rosy Periwinkle found?
It is native to Madagascar, but is now common in many tropical and sub-tropical regions, mainly cultivated in India, Central Asia and Madagascar.
What has the Rosy Periwinkle’s significance been historically?
It is long established as a historical Indian treatment for wasp stings, a historical treatment for diabetes in China and the Philippines, and has long been a popular ornamental garden plant.
Why is the rosy periwinkle an example of biopiracy?
It is largely cultivated in Madagascar by a big US pharmaceutical company, Eli Lilly, which channels few to no profits from cultivating back to Madagascar, depriving Madagascar of valuable international trade and potential exports, therefore hindering growth.
What is GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)?
GSK is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies, with its headquarters in the UK, which produces various drugs and health products, making an annual turnover of £23 billion.
What does GSK do in terms of R&D?
- GSK employs 13000 people in R&D and spends more than $3 billion annually.
- Makes breakthroughs in partnerships with other companies, universities and research charities.
- Currently researching for WHO’s three priority disease: HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB, in addition to a vaccine for Ebola.
What does GSK do in relation to drug manufacture and distribution?
- GSK has 84 manufacturing sites in 36 countries, producing almost 4 billion pack of medicine and health care products annually, including 800 million vaccine doses
- They account for 1/4 of the world’s vaccine production, 80% of which are issued to LIDCs.
- GSK makes a large profit, but also donates some vaccines to LIDCs for free. (*e.g. they donated 750 million albendazole tablets to treat over 130 million people with elephantiasis.
- They also invest 4% of their pre-tax profits into community programmes to help people in need.
What are patents and why do GSK need them?
- Patents are essentially copyright for new medicines, making it illegal for any other company to produce a new drug for 20 years after its inception.
- They prevent their products from being copied by other businesses to incentivise large spending on R&D, as the company that created the drug can control sales to help offset the research costs.
Why do patents have negative impacts on global health?
- The control of prices from one producer allows them to set high prices for HIC’s and prevents LIC’s from affording the drug.
How has GSK addressed patents making their new drugs too expensive for LIDCs?
They cap the price of any patented drug for LIDCs to 25% of their UK price.
