Deutsche Welle examines the widespread lack of access to medical supplies and drugs in developing countries and efforts by the pharmaceutical industry and others to bring new and lower-cost drugs into these emerging markets. Christian Wagner-Ahlfs of the Federal Coordination of Internationalism, or BUKO, which brings together 130 German activist groups to examine the work of the pharmaceutical industry in developing nations, said new drug prices in particular are “totally exorbitant,” adding, “It is a major problem that the companies do not reveal their actual research costs, so the prices are difficult to control,” according to DW. However, Norbert Gerbsch, deputy managing director of the Federation of German Industry (BPI), said those nations also have a responsibility to improve their health care infrastructure and food security, the news agency reports.

DW notes 10 international pharmaceutical companies last month launched TransCelerate BioPharma, “a network aimed at speeding up drug development and lowering costs” aiming for “firms to agree on uniform standards and to cooperate more closely in early research phases and in areas where they are not yet competitors.” The news service examines funding for new research, most of which comes from public sources, and says, “It looks like underdeveloped countries will remain of little interest to the pharmaceutical industry in the future; instead, the firms have discovered emerging markets as potential sales targets,” such as Brazil and India (Gehrke, 10/26).