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According to a story by Professor Fran Quigley, ’87, and IU McKinney 3L Sarah Asrar , a decision by officials in India blocking manufacturers of generic pharmaceuticals from making medicines for treatment of hepatitis C could create disastrous consequences potentially impacting upwards of 80 million people worldwide. Asrar interviewed an attorney and advocate with Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders in Delhi, India, in May 2016 for the story, published June 13 in Foreign Affairs. Asrar, a student in the Health and Human Rights Clinic, wrote the article with Professor Fran Quigley, ’87, who is the clinic’s director.

Asrar was visiting in India earlier this summer, and Professor Quigley (in the photo at left) suggested that she interview someone affiliated with Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders. Quigley arranged the meeting, and Asrar (in the photo at right) conducted the interview.

“I think access to essential medicine is so important and, in my opinion, a human right,” Asrar said. “I learned more about access campaigns during Professor Quigley's Health as a Human Right seminar which furthered my belief that cost should not be a prohibiting factor for people to get medicine.”

According to the story, titled “Is the U.S. Padlocking the Pharmacy of the Developing World?” officials in India reversed their decision to allow for generic manufacture of the drug, Sovaldi, which is used to treat patients with hepatitis C, after extensive lobbying from a maker of a name-brand version of the drug in the United States. The cost for treatment of hepatitis C with Sovaldi can be as much as $84,000 for the recommended 12-week cycle of treatment.

The scenario surrounding Sovaldi is reminiscent of hedge-fund manager turned pharmaceutical chief executive officer Martin Shkreli. In September 2015, Shkreli and his company, Turing Pharmaceuticals, purchased the manufacturing license for the toxoplasmosis drug Daraprim, and increased the cost from $13.50 per pill to $750 per pill. Shkreli and Turing faced severe criticism of the price increase, but declined to back down. Shkreli was arrested in December 2015 by the FBI on a federal charge of securities fraud in a matter unrelated to Turing.

Professor Quigley noted that U.S. Representative Elijah Cummings, the ranking member of a congressional committee studying drug pricing, said of the Turing pricing, ‘These tactics are not limited to a few bad apples, but are prominent throughout the industry.’”

“The abrupt spike in the price of Daraprim was just an extreme example of the deadly dynamics of the pharmaceutical industry,” Professor Quigley said, “where government-granted monopolies enjoy exclusive control over products that are necessary for the survival of millions.”