GHC

[James Love <love@cptech.org>]

I just talked by Dr. Thomas Novotny, the Director of the DHHS Office of
International Health and Refugee Affairs, who is apparently going to be
heading up the US DHHS policy review of 301 actions.  He said DHHS had
given a contract to the Global Health Council (GHC) to work on this
issue, and organize NGO meetings.  I told him that GHC was funded by
large pharmaceutical companies and had drug company executives on its
board of directors, and that GHC had been lobbying against the campaign
for access to drugs in numerous ways.  He said that Nils Daulaire, the
CEO of GHC had pushed for the contract, and he defended the DHHS
decision to use a drug company funded group by saying that DHHS was
paying for its contract, and would direct the agenda.

Dr. Novotny did not want to met directly with NGOs, except through the
things Nils will be setting up, and told me that we should work through
Dr. Stuart Nightingale, who will be helping Dr. Novotny.

There will be meetings at DHHS next week to determine more of how this
will work.

  Jamie

-- 
James Love / Director, Consumer Project on Technology
http://www.cptech.org / love@cptech.org
P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036
voice 202.387.8030 / fax 202.234.5176