Could Do-It-Yourself Drugs Solve Poor Affordability of Legal Medicines?

Abstract

All over the world, high drug prices prevent some people to be adequately treated. The price is caused, at least in part, by the complexity of the current drugs and high costs of their discovery and development. The present article reviews some possibilities how to reduce the cost by developing me-too drugs, using repurposing strategy and, last but not least, by generic substitution. The main part of the article deals with the Four Thieves Vinegar initiative offering information necessary for production of Do-It-Yourself (DIY) medicines. All drawbacks of the strategy are discussed.