In May 1982, a committee of eight experts submitted a report to Bangladesh’s health ministry proposing an overhaul of the country’s drug regulation regime. At the time, Bangladesh was almost entirely reliant on imports for its pharmaceutical needs, just like many poor countries in Southasia and beyond continue to be today. Most medicines on the market were expensive, and often unsafe cocktails of antibiotics, cough syrups, digestive enzymes and palliatives were ubiquitous. Some three-quarters of the country’s pharmaceuticals were manufactured by just eight multinational companies, which typically sold their products at exorbitant prices. But medicines were not always easily available even to those willing and able to pay, owing to inadequate and poorly distribute...