[A2k] News from the Abbott hearing and protest campaign

[Jérôme Martin]

Hello

Remember : abbott sues act up-paris beacause we protested against the
company's decision to deprive patients in Thailand of their new drugs,
after the governement legally issued compulsory licenses on different
drugs, including Abbott's Kaletra.

After a process hearing last friday, we now know when the "real" court
hearing will take place october 26th. French justice time...But we have
time to prepare our defense.

You will find below a protest letter you can emailto THE Abbott Guy,
Miles White. Please, if you do so, email me a copy and let me know if
you already wrote to White.

Thanks again


Jérôme Martin
Act Up-Paris

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To the attention of Mr. Miles White
CEO
Abbott
miles.white@abbott.com
Dear Sir,
We are writing you to state our support for Act Up-Paris, which is
currently facing a lawsuit filed
by Abbott. The lawsuit seeks damages from Act-Up Paris resulting from
their call to temporarily
shut down your website. We are astonished that, not content with filing
a civil suit, you also
decided to initiate criminal proceedings against this small NGO. The
legal actions initiated by
Abbott could mean the death of the organization due to potential fines
and legal costs exceeding
tens of thousands of euros. Your actions are clearly an attempt to
silence Act Up-Paris as well as
intimidate organizations which may publicly object to Abbott’s actions
in Thailand.
Despite the fact that the compulsory licenses were issued by the Thai
government in accordance
with the flexibilities afforded to national governments under the TRIPS
Agreement, Abbott decided
to deprive HIV patients in Thailand of your treatments. While this
unilateral decision cannot be
legally challenged, the WHO, numerous doctors, and a multitude of NGOs
have called upon you to
reexamine your position. The French government has publicly supported
the Thai government’s
decision to issue compulsory drug licenses. People living with HIV in
Thailand have asked you to
reverse your decision and called upon the international community to
show their solidarity. Act Up-
Paris responded to their call with the action that you seek to punish.
Despite pleas from the international community, you have not deigned to
review your position
while people living with HIV in Thailand are dying because of it. Your
company refuses any
compromise, seeking to silence the people who are trying to uphold the
public health interest and
the value of human life in the face of Abbott’s narrow financial interests.
Because we believe that the pharmaceutical industry should not be
allowed to impose its policies on
national governments and the lives of its most vulnerable citizens, and
because we believe that
monitoring and criticism of your policies—especially when they risk the
lives of millions of people
living with HIV—are indispensable, we ask you to drop your legal action
against Act Up-Paris.
Regardless of your decision about the charges against Act Up-Paris, we
will not be intimidated and
will continue to do everything in our power to convince Abbott to
reverse your decision to deprive
the HIV/AIDS patients of Thailand of life-saving medication.
Sincerely,
Xxxxxxxx
Your