[Ip-health] Student groups target Abbott

[Sean Flynn]

Published Thursday, April 1, 2004
Yale Daily News

AIDS Watch petitions against drug price hikes

BY VIOLET WOODWARD PU
Staff Reporter
Co-president of Yale AIDS Watch David Steinberg =9205 and his organization
plan to circulate a campus-wide petition to oppose Abbott Laboratories=92
raising of the prices of AIDS drugs like Norvin. (ELEANOR
SOKOLOW/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR)

Students from Yale AIDS Watch who oppose national corporation Abbott
Laboratories' altering the prices of certain medications are pressuring
the company and mobilizing support for the cause with a campus-wide
petition.

The group is joining forces with about 15 similar groups in the
intercollegiate Student AIDS Watch. SAW will work with the Organization
HIV Healthcare Providers, a group consisting of several thousand doctors
who are boycotting Abbott.

Abbott, the maker of a unique AIDS drug called Norvir, recently raised
the price of the drug by about 400 percent. Opponents charge Abbott with
bundling Norvir with a protease inhibitor drug the company manufactures,
Kaletra, in order to increase Kaletra's market share. Activists are
concerned not only about the increase in Norvir's price but also about
the legal issues surrounding Abbott's use of its market monopoly to
bundle the drugs and, some say, unethically increase sales. The groups
hope to force Abbott to license the drug found in Norvir, thus allowing
other companies to manufacture it.

Abbott representatives maintain that the Norvir price increase reflects
recent changes in the drug's prominence and role in the treatment of
HIV. Pharmaceutical public affairs manager for the company Nicole Wesley
said the repricing represents "the current scientific and patient
benefit" that Norvir provides.

"It was launched as a standalone therapy," Wesley said. "After a while,
it was discovered that Norvir provides a boosting effect, meaning it
makes other drugs last longer in the bloodstream and keeps the viral
levels down within the blood. The issue of drug pricing goes beyond that
of just one drug by one manufacturer; it involves the full spectrum of
HIV drugs and how they are priced."

Matt Wilson '05, who co-founded YAW and serves as a director, said
Yale's campaign is focused on enforcing the Bayh-Dole Act, a 1980 patent
policy that allows the government to enforce compulsory licensing. The
law applies when the product in question has been developed using
government funding, and Wilson said Abbott received government funding
during the research and creation of Norvir.

"Enforcing the Bayh-Dole Act would force prices to be lower across the
board," Wilson said. "We've been mainly focusing on a large-scale
petition campaign to get [Secretary of U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services] Tommy Thompson to use this law against Abbott."

Dr. Howard Grossman, a Manhattan general practitioner and member of the
Organization of HIV Healthcare Providers, said Yale's and other schools'
cooperation with the organization is promising.

"Younger people have lots of energy, so that's very exciting for us," he
said. "It's a little tough to run a practice and a boycott at the same
time."

Large-scale participation could be the determining factor in the issue,
Grossman said. If SAW chapters encouraged their universities to join the
fight, he said, they could be highly effective.

"School groups are important," Grossman said. "I don't know what
position Yale has with Abbott, but if Yale were to make a stink at the
upcoming annual meeting, that could carry a big weight."

Co-founder and director David Steinberg '05 said such administrative
action would be appreciated but is not expected.

"The overall goal of SAW is to get as much support as possible,"
Steinberg said. "Faculty members may sign the petition, and we'd love to
see some indirect consequences as well."

Norvir is a twice-daily booster drug that is part of a highly active
anti-retroviral treatment, or HAART, against HIV.