Paper short abstract:

This paper reviews the cooperation between pharmaceutical companies and Least Developed Countries in relation to access to essential medicines which developed as a result of the MDGs. It investigates how the introduction of the SDGs has affected this cooperation and whether the LDCs have benefited.

Paper long abstract:

In 2009, Andrew Witty, the Chief Executive of GlaxoSmithkline (GSK), announced that GSK would help the poorest developing countries via a process of partnering with the Least Developed Countries (LDCs). Similarly, in 2010 the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) recognised the costs of essential medicines in LDCs and indicated that many of its members were considering policies which would increase access to these medicines. These announcements are essentially derived from target five associated with Goal Eight of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which specifically mentioned cooperation between pharmaceutical companies and developing countries in terms of access to essential medicines. This paper investigates how this cooperation has developed with the introduction of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), how the SDGs have affected the cooperation and whether the LDCs have truly benefited from the process. It also investigates the reasons why pharmaceutical companies have been talking specifically about LDCs and assisting them in their access to medicines. It argues that the reason for this specific focus is due to a 'Geneva Connection' which resulted partly from to the access to medicines campaign in WTO in the early 2000s and to the coherence and strength of the LDCs in the international organisations in Geneva where the IFPMA, the World Health Association and the WTO are based, and partly from the international norm of special treatment for LDCs which is centred in Geneva.