[Ip-health] Anti-AIDS coalition scolds U.S.

[Sharonann Lynch]

Anti-AIDS coalition scolds U.S.
White House's refusal to back cheap drugs irks group

By JEFF NESMITH
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 03/31/04

WASHINGTON -- The White House's denial of U.S. funds for cheap
anti-AIDS drugs in Africa is undermining efforts by American
nonprofit groups to fight the global HIV epidemic, former U.N.
Ambassador Richard Holbrooke said Wednesday.

Holbrooke told a Bush administration official that many officials in
other countries believe the U.S. policy is based on a desire to
support big pharmaceutical companies. This is "tearing apart" efforts
to fight the epidemic in poor countries, he said.

Experts say generic anti-retroviral drugs could take the place of the
expensive, multidrug regimens used in the United States to keep HIV
victims alive. Such drugs are produced in India, Brazil and elsewhere
and could provide HIV/AIDS care for as little as $140 per victim per
year, according to the World Health Organization.

Although the WHO has screened the drugs, the United States will not
approve U.S. funds for buying them until it has determined they meet
FDA standards for safety, quality and efficacy. U.S. officials
outlined their objections to the cheap drugs at a meeting with WHO
and African health officials this week in Gaborone, the capital of
Botswana.

The AIDS/HIV pandemic is most severe in Africa, where more than 30
percent of the adult population of some countries is infected.

In his State of the Union speech last year, President Bush proposed a
$10 billion program to fight the disease in Africa.

"Because the AIDS diagnosis is considered a death sentence, many do
not seek treatment," he said. "Many hospitals tell people, 'You've
got AIDS. We can't help you. Go home and die.' In an age of
miraculous medicines, no person should have to hear those words."

Holbrooke is chairman and CEO of the Global Business Coalition on
HIV/AIDS, a group of 140 multinational companies that supports
efforts to fight the disease worldwide.

At a Wednesday discussion sponsored by the Council on Foreign
Relations, he lectured John Lange, deputy coordinator of the Bush
administration's global AIDS initiative, about its action on the
cheap medicines.

"I am very disturbed by this," Holbrooke said. "It's a big issue, and
it's tearing apart all the good work that people are doing because
there is a feeling that the United States is protecting the big
[pharmaceutical companies]."

"We are getting hammered on this in the Global Business Coalition," he added.

He noted that Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) wrote to President Bush
last week "blasting the administration on this issue."

Lange said the United States was merely concerned that drugs used in
the war on AIDS be as safe and effective as FDA-approved drugs in the
United States. Giving ineffective drugs could lead to a buildup of
resistance and "end up doing more harm than good," he said.

By "fall of this year," he said, information probably will be
available on whether to approve U.S. funding for the generic
anti-retrovirals.

Waxman, the ranking Democrat on the House Government Reform
Committee, said in his letter to Bush that the United States is using
"inflexible standards  . . .  to block the use of low-cost generic
drugs" against HIV/AIDS.

He noted that a committee of experts convened by the WHO had
recommended combining three drug treatments into a single pill, such
as the generic drugs the WHO has purchased.

Dr. Scott Hammer, an infectious disease expert at Columbia University
who chaired the WHO committee, said in a telephone interview
Wednesday that the WHO "prequalifying" screening generic combinations
produced by two companies in India established that "the pills
contain the correct drugs in the correct amounts."

Further, he said, reports from groups such as Doctors Without Borders
indicate the drugs are effective in treating the disease.

--
Sharonann Lynch
salynch@healthgap.org
Health GAP (Global Access Project)
Tel  +1 212 674-9598
Mob +1 646 645-5225
http://www.healthgap.org