Drug firms 'need to do more' to make products available to poor

The drug industry is missing out on business opportunities by not doing enough to distribute drugs to people in developing countries, a new report has claimed.

While companies are making some progress in increasing access to medicine in the developing world, much more needs to be done, according to international charity Oxfam.

As a result, the organisation claimed that pharmaceutical firms are missing out on potentially massive markets in the future.

Sumi Dhanarajan, Oxfam's head of research, said: "The industry is operating in a short-sighted way because it could gain enormous benefits from emerging markets, including lower research and development costs and cheaper manufacturing."

"Yet instead it continues to blindly use its same strategies in poor countries. Even today, the richest 15 per cent of the world consumes over 90 per cent of its pharmaceuticals. At this rate, both the industry and millions of sick patients are losing out," he added.

According to the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations, companies made $6.7 billion (£.3.23 billion) worth of health interventions such as drugs and vaccines available to the developing world, the Guardian reported.

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