A great number of people suffer from obscure and unknown diseases for which there have been few attempts to create treatments prior to the Orphan Drug Act of 1983. Today, the Act has helped improve the quality of life of many afflicted individuals and has enabled multiple companies to achieve financial success for creating treatments to combat rare diseases. Our analysis focuses on how the ODA has helped lower barrier of entry to orphan drug research and development with the effect of making orphan drugs economically feasible for companies involved. Based on the health needs of rare disease patients and our analysis of the marketability of orphan drugs, companies are advised to pursue orphan drugs research for not only ethical reasons but financial ones.

Many Asian societies have become known for a notorious unwillingness to discuss sexual health, sexual education or gender equity in public. This has led to increasing personal and public health problems for many Asian and Asian American people, including higher rates of abortion and elevated risk of cancer due to lack of early diagnosis,and conflicts with Western styles of medical treatment. However, a case study of Taiwan’s recent gender equity and sexual health education reforms reveals that conservative, traditional Asian societies may still be open to policy change that is influenced through such channels as Western media and increased Western immigration. It is likely that Taiwanese public policies have shifted toward liberalization due to growing interconnectivity with the Western world, providing a useful model for other Asian societies and for Western doctors through which to provide culturally-sensitive medicine.