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Cheap HIV drugs are more important than patents

"African countries should follow Thailand's lead in manufacturing their own affordable medication in the face of U.S. pressure."

It's terrible I know, what the Thais are doing. Without the enormous profits guaranteed by a government-enforced monopoly (patent), how will the future of innovation be financed? Well... Developing countries like Thailand, or least developed countries in Africa, represent a minuscule proportion of global profits for drug companies like Abbott. The tiny sums Abbott would otherwise gain from Thailand and Africa would be plowed largely into marketing - and not in poor countries, because AIDS drugs pretty much sell themselves there. No "Living is Good - Stay Alive with Kaletra" ad campaign needed. Anyway, these tiny profits would be plowed back largely into marketing and administration, expenses which dwarf research & development expenditures by a factor of 2.5, while Abbott waits for the next publicly-funded university to make a new drug discovery, which they can then buy and bring it through the FDA approval process.