[Ip-health] Oxfam Lauds U.S. Effort in Making Anti-Anthrax Medicine Available

[James Love]

Oxfam Lauds U.S. Effort in Making Anti-Anthrax Medicine Available
  
WASHINGTON, Oct. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Oxfam America is lauding recent efforts 
by the U.S. Government to provide a much-needed antibiotic.  The Government 
is asking Bayer Corporation to relax its patent on the anti-anthrax medicine, 
Cipro (ciprofloxacin). 

Oxfam America's Senior Policy Adviser, Severina Rivera, praised the move, 
stating "We support the U.S. effort to secure access to life-saving medicines 
in anticipation of what could be a national emergency.  We hope this will 
also lead to a more sympathetic understanding by the US for the plight of 
other countries who seek the same for their people. Some 37,000 people die 
every day in developing countries from treatable diseases." 

Oxfam has launched a campaign called Cut the Costs, to obtain a more 
flexible, pro-health application of patent rules.  It noted in a recent study 
that the U.S. has continued to strongly oppose attempts by developing 
countries to relax global patent rules even for narrowly circumscribed 
purposes, such as for the HIV-AIDS pandemic. 

"We hope that the U.S. will now change its opposition against more 
compassionate patents," Rivera said. 

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SOURCE  Oxfam America   

CO:  Oxfam America; Bayer Corporation 

ST:  District of Columbia 

IN:  MTC 

SU: 

10/17/2001 18:04 EDT http://www.prnewswire.com