Foreign aid

I thought it would be worth mentioning, before going into Lessig's stance on the pharma industry, that they have been moments--however few and far in between--in which drug companies have distributed medicine at drastically reduced costs in order to accommodate developing countries. Heller was one of the first to point this out during his guest lecture.

That being said, it's a nice break and an interesting aberration from the standard capitalist critique (although it is usually true) to hear that pharma is not to blame in the case of Africa's lack of access to AIDS medication. "The corruption is our own politicians' failure of integrity. For the drug companies would love...to sell their drugs as cheaply as they can to countries in Africa and elsewhere." In light of the fact that US financial aid abroad is staggeringly low in comparison to that of most European countries, a reversal of such policy could be an excellent way to compensate for such a disparity and perhaps could prove itself more effective than monetary assistance.