TWO events, two statements, separated by just six weeks. On 14 April, a declaration from the heads of government of six nations saluted the open collaboration of scientists who had completed the human genome sequence. On 2 June, leaders at the G8 summit in Evian released an action plan on health that continued to emphasise the existing closed commercial system of drug development and intellectual property protection. These contradictory statements reflect the current dogma: academic science is good for generating new ideas, but to turn ideas into practical products such as drugs, commercial discipline is required.
Yet the AIDS crisis…
