Paul Boneberg of GAAN writes Department of State asking for meeting on IP aspects of International HIV/AIDS policy

[James Love <love@cptech.org>]

The following is a February 22, 1999 letter from Paul Boneberg of the Global 
AIDS Action Network (GAAN), endorsing the request for a State Department 
meeting with NGOs to discuss the intellectual property aspects of 
US policy on International HIV/AIDS treatment issues.    Jamie

-------------------------
February 22, 1999

Secretary Madeleine Albright
Department of State
2201 C St. NW
Washington, D.C. 20520
(202) 647-4000
FAX: (202) 647-7120
E-mail: secretary@state.gov

Re:  US State Department Briefing on Intellectual Property Issues and HIV/AIDS

Secretary Albright:

We are writing in reference to the recent correspondence to you from Mr. Ralph
Nader and Mr. James Love of the Consumer Project on Technology (CPT) regarding
intellectual property issues as they relate to the U.S. Diplomatic Initiative
on HIV/AIDS. We strongly support their assertion that intellectual property
issues should be part of the discussion around the U.S. Diplomatic Initiative
on HIV/AIDS and their request for a meeting.

Our support rests on three observations:
        
1. Since the breakthroughs on treatment in 1996 there has been growing concern
among American AIDS groups about how to provide access to medicines to people
with HIV in developing nations. In this regard American AIDS groups have urged
USAID, UNAIDS, the World Bank, and the pharmaceutical industry to expand
efforts to provide care. Some groups have also sought to ship medicines
directly to care providers in developing nations. This interest is not
surprising given that much of American AIDS activism is organized around
access to care or, more simply, the need to "get drugs into bodies".

However it is clear that shipping drugs is an inadequate mechanism to meet the
vast needs of people with HIV in southern nations. Therefore the idea that
modifications in intellectual property law might provide a more practical
solution is of interest to many groups. 

2. In the first part of this year several organizations from New York,
Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco, and Washington met in New York
specifically to discuss how to increase access to AIDS medicines in developing
nations. These activists were aware of the intellectual property issues
because of articles appearing in AIDS publications and the Consumer Project on
Technology (Mr. Love) was invited to brief the group. There was specific
discussion of the upcoming Department of State meeting on the Diplomatic
Initiative on HIV/AIDS and the group anticipated hearing a report from Mr.
Love who had been invited to attend.

3. It was therefore shocking that at the meeting with NGOs the Department of
State expressly forbade discussion of intellectual property issues and that
Mr. Love was forbidden to even distribute materials. Mr. Nader's and Mr.
Love's letter in describing this most unfortunate meeting is--in my opinion--
accurate and if anything, underrepresented the rudeness with which Mr. Love
was treated. 

It is particularly disturbing to learn that although intellectual property
issues were banned from the meeting with NGOs they were formally placed on the
Department's agenda with the pharmaceutical industry in a meeting the previous
day.

Secretary Albright, we are sure that this meeting and most of the Department's
activities around HIV/AIDS have not risen to the attention of yourself or your
senior staff. It appears to us that there has been little priority given to
the issue since the departure of Under-Secretary Wirth some years ago. We say
this because this meeting, although extreme, is consistent with the
mishandling of the redrafting of the U.S. Diplomatic Initiative on HIV/AIDS.
Unlike the first report which had an inclusive process and created a strong
document, this redraft has been exclusive, frustrating, and alienating of the
very organizations that are most concerned about US global AIDS policy.
Repeated expressions of concern by many groups, members of Congress, and the
president's own advisory council on HIV/AIDS appears to us to have had no
effect on the Department's wholly inadequate response to AIDS.

Secretary Albright, the Department of State plays an indispensable role in our
nation's response to AIDS and other global infectious diseases. We are aware
of your deep personal concern about AIDS and the extraordinary leadership on
the issue from the Clinton administration. We urge you to intervene to
reconnect with American AIDS groups that are seeking so passionately to
improve the Department of State's efforts. Specifically we urge that the
briefing that Mr. Nader and Mr. Love request be granted. We urge further that
senior officials at State organize a meaningful consultation with concerned
groups on the implementation of the U.S. Diplomatic Initiative on HIV/AIDS.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Paul Boneberg
Global AIDS Action Network (GAAN)
202-667-6300

cc-Senator Leahy
        Representative Pelosi
        Scott Hitt & Bob Fogel-President's Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS
        Consumer Project on Technology (CPT)


-- 
James Love, Director, Consumer Project on Technology
I can be reached at love@cptech.org, by telephone 202.387.8030,
by fax at 202.234.5176. CPT web page is http://www.cptech.org