Much attention has been given recently to the role of pharmaceutical companies in ensuring the realization of health as a universal human right, as recognized in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). Governments, in their role of protecting human rights, have the primary responsibility for managing a health system that ensures the health of their citizens, a role that is implied in the Universal Declaration. However pharmaceutical companies and other stakeholders also have roles and responsibilities in respecting and promoting the right of all people to standards of living sufficient for ensuring health and well being.