The global system for funding drug development socializes the costs and privatizes the profits though a system of taxpayer-funded research, legal corporate tax havens, and intellectual property registrations to guarantee exclusive access to markets and to reduce corporate taxes, while selling identical formulations at wildly different prices.

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Sources:

Americans for Tax Fairness (2016). “Gilead Sciences Price Gouger, Tax Dodger,” July, http://americansfortaxfairness.org/new-report-taxpayer-supported-gilead-sciences-is-price-gouging-the-public-then-dodging-taxes-on-the-huge-profits/

“What is the minimum cost per person to cure HCV?” Andrew Hill and Saye Khoo, Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Liverpool University, UK; Bryony Simmons, MetaVirology Ltd, London, UK; Nathan Ford, University of Cape Town, South Africa. 7th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, July 2013, http://freepdfhosting.com/d4a7e2bba6.pdf

“Minimum costs for producing hepatitis C direct-acting antivirals for use in large-scale treatment access programs in developing countries,” Andrew Hill, Saye Khoo, Joe Fortunak, Bryony Simmons, and Nathan Ford. Clin Infect Dis, first published online January 6, 2014 http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2014/01/06/cid.ciu012.full.pdf+html

“Rapidly falling costs for new hepatitis C direct-acting antivirals (DAAs): Potential for universal access,” Dzintars Gotham, Melissa Barber, Joseph Fortunak, Anton Pozniak, http://www.natap.org/2016/IAC/IAC_121.htm