Burroughs Wellcome Co, developer of AZT, the first drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), is under siege in September 1989, AIDS activists and various segments of the U.S. government. Despite repeated requests in the past two years to reduce the price of AZT (brand Retrovie), Burroughs Wellcome and its parent company, London-based Wellcome PLC, declined, saying that the annual $ 6,300 (wholesale) cost of the drug on a man is justified, based high research, development, production and other costs associated with the drug. Opponents accuse the company to use its existing chemical compounds, assisted with the research the government and co-operative regulatory system to gain a monopoly on the only approved treatment for people with AIDS. The case allows students to study economics and regulation of the pharmaceutical industry, to struggle with the ethics of medicine prices and analyze the development of public relations strategy on the part of both private companies and groups of activists in the age of AIDS. "Hide
by Willis Emmons, Ashok Nimgade Source: Harvard Business School 20 pages. Publication Date: Sep 09, 1991. Prod. #: 792004-PDF-ENG
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