http://www.cid.harvard.edu/archive/biotech/papers/discussion8.pdf

Expenditures on medicines can represent up to 66% of total health spending in developing countries and could be a major cause of household impoverishment, as 50-90% of such expenditures are out-of-pocket expenses. Today, over one-third of the world's population and over one-half of the poorest in Asia and Africa still lack access to essential drugs. Policy instruments available under TRIPS, such as compulsory licenses or government use, parallel imports and price controls, if designed with care, could attenuate such adverse effects on the affordable access to medicines considered essential. (Au)