Buko Pharma-Kampagne was created more than two decades ago to monitor how German pharmaceutical companies operate in third-world countries.
The group has stepped forward to accuse German pharmaceutical companies of purposely conducting drug tests in developing countries that have lax regulations. The companies' motives, according to Buko, are to obtain new patent protection and to maximize profits.
In 2012, Buko released a report entitled "At the expense of the poor?" in which it examined the conduct of three pharmaceutical companies operating in Brazil: Baxter, Bayer and Boehringer Ingelheim.
Of the three companies, Buko concluded that only Baxter offered a portfolio of essential drugs in the region, although the organization accused Baxter of marketing to high and middle-class populations while excluding the poor from access to their drugs.
Bayer and Boehringer Ingelheim, on the other hand, were found by Buko to market many drugs of minimal value. Buko graded 37.1 percent of Bayer's drugs and 52.9 percent of Boehringer Ingelheim's drugs as "irrational."
One example cited by Buko was a Boehringer Ingelheim drug called Buscopan. Buscopan contains metamizole, which is banned in countries like the U.S., the U.K., Australia, Sweden and Canada because one out of every 1,000 patients who takes metamizole suffers from a massive drop in their white cell counts.
However, Boehringer Ingelheim still markets Buscopan in Brazil as a painkiller, even though it contains metamizole.
Buko's evidence in the Brazil study pertains to drug marketing. However, its latest accusations say that big pharma conducts unethical tests in third-world countries. Deutsche Welle (DW.de) reported on Buko's accusations but cited no specific study to back up the organization's claims.
Christian Wagner-Ahlfs, a chemist affiliated with Buko, says that most drug trials in the third world are unnecessary because the products that pharmaceutical companies are testing are only slightly different from products already on the market. He also adds that pharmaceutical companies offer drug trials in these countries and then market the drug, once it's approved, at a price that participants can't afford.
Buko's claims are worth examining, but the organization needs to release more evidence. The Association of Research-Based Pharmaceuticals has rejected Buko's accusations, although the organization admitted that it can't prove that local organizations conducting the studies haven't chosen to test disproportionately on the poor.
Edited by
Alisen Downey
