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Lucy Xiaolu Wang, Assistant Professor, Department of Resource Economics, UMass Amherst

When developing countries band together, lifesaving drugs become cheaper and easier to buy − with trade-offs

Pooling procurement of drugs could increase the availability of essential treatments around the globe. narvo vexar/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Procuring lifesaving drugs is a daunting challenge in many low- and middle-income countries. Essential treatments are often neither available nor affordable in these nations, even decades after the drugs entered the market.

Prospective buyers from these countries face a patent thicket, where a single drug may be covered by hundreds of patents. This makes it costly and legally difficult to secure licensing rights for manufacturing.

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