On the subject of patents and HIV drugs, it comes up in the articles I’ve read that because Brazil & India have their own drug industries and manufacturing facilities that they just make the drugs themselves rather than try to buy them on the international market.
So aside from India and Brazil (and likely China) what developing nations have functioning pharmaceutical manufacturing and R&D facilities so they could make their own drugs rather than buy them on the international market?
Teva, the world’s largest producer of generic pharmaceuticals, is an Israeli company.
South Africa has a fairly robust pharma industry, especially for generics. But this doesn’t preclude buying drugs on the international market, either.
China does have a big industry. The foreign majors are all here and outsourcing more and more of their clinical trials.
Pakistan apparently
From the website of Pakistan Pharamaceutical Manufacturers Association.
However, Israel is rarely if ever considered a “Developing” country anymore – see the IMP list of Developed Countries, here – and our conspicuous absence from the IMF list of Developing Countries, here (yeah, Wiki. I’m lazy, so sue me… :))
You’re right. It’s just that since the OP mentioned India, I assumed “developing countries” just meant young countries, which Israel is.
I guuess developing countries can’t be successful, because if they’re too successful, they stop being developing countries…
Neither India nor Brazil (nor China) are on the IMF list of Developed countries, however… and we are. I actually checked that before answering 
Which is true as far as it goes, but I think the OP meant countries that haven’t been successful enough, yet!
And I’ll take being on the Developed Countries list any day over being a Model Case of a Developing one (OECD, here we come! :))
[/hijack – I’ll clear the floor now for people with additional examples of actual Developing Countries with a pharma industry]
Singapore. Is that developing?
Cuba does. Although I would be very skeptical about claims of new and promising drugs about to be unveiled. Every other day in Cuba we heard about some new pharmaceutical breakthrough that would change medicine forever, but the only medicines I ever took in Cuba were manufactured in Mexico, Spain, Canada, or the US.
Pretty much. The world bank divides countries by per capita income
I expect high income countries to have their own pharma industries, but lower middle and upper middle income countries like Brazil, China, India, Pakistan, etc. I really don’t know. Then again China, India & Pakistan make nuclear weapons.
I was also curious if any low income countries have pharma industries. I assume most high income countries do, and some middle, but don’t know if any low income countries have their own industries.
A big reason I was asking is on issues of international patents with HIV, countries like India & Brazil just skirt patent law and make the drugs themselves. So I figured decentralization of pharma manufacture is going to keep growing, esp when involved in life or death drugs. I don’t know if places like Kenya or Togo have their own pharma industries to make their own drugs, or if they need to buy them from India and Brazil.
Also, how did this end up in GD? I thought I posted this in GQ.
Apparently Kenya has its own pharma industry with 30 manufacturers and companies in Nairobi.
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:ed4dNwqSNQUJ:www.investmentkenya.com/index.php%3Foption%3Dcom_docman%26Itemid%3D%26task%3Ddoc_download%26gid%3D3+kenya+pharmaceutical+industry+penicillin&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESiMpJFlU09gafnmEfNOZ5c1HMnuYxaDQXtNp9ujmH2m-ZbR2ww5Sn8XwgKbRkRUtRPv6ANwGbeY7Wu2wFe4CGm3ck8Tg3T2NFZaqiBe5rRMjPgKhuJ9ODnCACHNVKKTUzrLkoEf&sig=AHIEtbSA6oXAoMzcxHgywgI2IOmQq9ALvQ
Thats good. The impression I get as a westerner is that countries in Africa need to buy/import drugs for malaria, HIV, TB, etc. on the international market, where they may be too expensive. But if places like Kenya make them and distribute them at cost, then that is a huge move towards development, independence and self sufficiency.
India and to a lesser extent Pakistan have large industrial bases.