The thing is, when a company chooses to manufacture pharmaceuticals, it shouldn't just be 'business as usual' for them. They must realize that they have a social responsability to undertake besides making a profit, and that is even without a proper regulamentory agency or something of the sort.
Most countries have some kind of social welfare, so maybe these companies could have differentiated deals with those programs and still price whatever for those can afford it. It would both cover a market they wouldn't otherwise reach and not jeopardize those that imperatively need treatment and can't afford it otherwise.
But surely the social responsibility to help people isn't just limited to pharmaceutical companies? I mean, if you tell rich people that they don't have any responsibility to help sick people in India until they invest in a medicine company, and then suddenly they have to spend huge amounts of their investment helping those people then I think that's a bit unfair, and more importantly saying that will cause a lot of people to avoid investing in medicine.
Ultimately, matters of social responsibility ought to be governed by the government, using taxation to spread the burden equally among everyone who can pay.
The thing is, when a company chooses to manufacture pharmaceuticals, it shouldn't just be 'business as usual' for them. They must realize that they have a social responsability to undertake besides making a profit, and that is even without a proper regulamentory agency or something of the sort.
Most countries have some kind of social welfare, so maybe these companies could have differentiated deals with those programs and still price whatever for those can afford it. It would both cover a market they wouldn't otherwise reach and not jeopardize those that imperatively need treatment and can't afford it otherwise.