Disease is a business and offers a potential profit. HIV/AIDS has now killed more people across the globe than the Black Death that hit Europe 700 years ago. With around 22 million deaths and 40 million people infected, the disease is hitting African countries especially hard. The annual cost of the antiretroviral drugs per person is estimated to be US$10,000. Clearly, this puts the treatment well out of the reach of most Africans. Questions:

a) What might a drug company state as a reason for the comparatively high cost of antiretroviral drugs? Is this an acceptable reason for the costs?

b) India was able to quickly produce its own generic antiretroviral drugs, why was this case? Research how this came about.

c) HIV/AIDS deaths in the US peaked in 1995 but peaked in 2007 in Africa. How did patents affect this?