The black market in prescription drugs

Abstract

A black market is an illicit trading system that avoids government regulation. It operates outside the law and is driven by the opportunity for profit and the needs of consumers. It is subject to the economic rules of supply and demand and can be rapidly subverted by a change in the laws that make possible its existence. Because the legitimate business of selling prescription drugs is very profitable and highly regulated, opportunities for blackmarket entrepreneurship of these drugs exist in both developed and developing countries. Regulations that govern legitimate access to pharmaceuticals are set by state, national, and international bodies. India has circumvented international patent law by creating a national black market, thereby making it legal to copy a medicine that has been patented elsewhere as long as a different and unique manufacturing process is used. This has allowed the Indian people and other foreign buyers to access highquality medications at a fraction of the cost of the same medication in the USA or Europe, but the practice has understandably been criticised vigorously by multinational pharmaceutical firms and the World Trade Organization.