[Ip-health] Scrip on IFPMA lobbying efforts

[James Love]

Scrip, 11/4/2004 - he pharmaceutical industry's global voice, the IFPMA,
is bringing in a number of reforms to make it a better lobbying body.
This comes at a time when the industry's image is taking a battering
from numerous critics, including NGOs. They charge that the industry
overprices medicines, launches few innovative treatments,
inappropriately influences doctors' prescribing, and neglects research
into diseases affecting the developing world.   More negative publicity
is expected for the industry when the filmmaker,  Michael Moore,
completes a new documentary in 2005, "Sicko", which among other things
looks at the pharmaceutical sector.

"One of the aims of the IFPMA will be better communications," Dr Harvey
  Bale, IFPMA director general, told industry delegates at the
federation's  biennial assembly meeting in Barcelona last week. It will
be hiring a  communications director, and consolidating its committees
so that it will  have five focusing on healthcare issues, regulatory
policy and technical  standards, and biologicals and vaccines.
...companies allowed   The IFPMA, which has until now been a federation
of pharmaceutical  associations, will from now on allow pharmaceutical
companies to be direct members. Already 19 multinationals from the US,
Japan and Europe (including Pfizer, Sanofi-Aventis, Wyeth, Lilly, Bayer,
Merck & Co and GlaxoSmithKline) have joined the federation, and six
firms are considering doing so (including Serono, Fujisawa, Akzo Nobel
and AstraZeneca).   These new members are expected to give the
federation more access to  knowledge and expertise, closer
collaborations with top-level management, and additional financial
resources. Although Dr Bale would not provide financial details, the new
members will double the federation's income.   Currently, it runs on
"several million Swiss francs", he told Scrip.

The idea was conceived in the past few weeks and was the brainchild of
the outgoing IFPMA president, Raymond Gilmartin, chairman, president and
CEO of Merck & Co, and the incoming president, Dr Daniel Vasella,
chairman and CEO of Novartis.   ...new name   The IFPMA will now be
called the "International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and
Associations". (The logo will remain the same, the difference being the
addition of the word "and". A similar step was taken some years ago by
the European industry federation, EFPIA).   The federation will also
relocate from southwest Geneva to the northeast  part to be closer to
international bodies such as the World Health  Organisation, the World
Intellectual Property Organisation, the World  Trade Organisation,
UNAIDS and the World Bank. Dr Bale said the  relocation, which will take
place around June 2005, was more a  "psychological" than a physical
move.   All of these moves are expected to help the IFPMA be a better
lobbying  group. Dr Bale says: "It really is advocacy [work], which
includes  partnerships, corroboration, lobbying, information and
communication."  He says the industry has only now begun to communicate
at the global level with key bodies like the WHO, the WTO, the World
Bank, the UN and WIPO.   "This began to happen under Mr Gilmartin, with
the building of a sense of  confidence in the IFPMA structure, and now
it is amending its ability to  interact."   ...

Gilmartin's legacy   Mr Gilmartin, whose company recently withdrew Vioxx
(rofecoxib), was  scheduled to open and close the IFPMA meeting, but he
was unable to  attend. However, Mr Gilmartin's work over the 2002-04
period was not  forgotten.   His presidency focused on partnerships to
develop new medicines and on  access to AIDS medicines, noted Dr Bale.
"A highlight was resolving the  blockage on the WTO compulsory licensing
issue." On August 30th, 2003, the WTO agreed a waiver for the TRIPS
agreement, which allows richer countries to export medicines under
compulsory licences to developing countries who do not have
manufacturing capacity. Dr Vassella's presidency is expected to build on
the work of Mr Gilmartin but to focus on innovation.   ...new rules
The meeting was also the first held under Chatham House rules, because
the lay press was invited. "Some of the media are new [to the assembly],
and I was worried about quotes out of context," explained Dr Bale,
adding that it could discourage open debate.   However, the federation
had little to fear as most sessions on access to  medicines and the role
of NGOs were uncontroversial and unchallenging. NGO speakers tended to
be industry-friendly and spoke about the importance of partnership.

Professor Richard Feachem, executive director of The Global Fund to
Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, praised the work of the industry, saying it
had climbed out of the low point that was the 2001 court case in South
Africa.   "You are not part of the problem - you are part of the
solution," he told  industry. He also called on it to use its influence
on legislators around  the world, particularly in wealthy countries, to
help grow the Global  Fund.

Dr Bale said the industry wanted dialogue with NGOs, but not with
thosethat had already made up their minds. "We seek dialogue with NGOs
who are prepared to exchange views and come to a better understanding of
our industry. Some NGOs like CP Tech [run by James Love] have business
plans which are unalterably anti-intellectual property."   One speaker
from a think-tank, the American Enterprise Institute, told the meeting
that the global pharmaceutical industry's credibility and image was
under attack. He said the proposed "Sicko" film would have devastating
effects on the image of the industry. He said the "enemy must be
engaged".   "Recognise your enemies and neutralise them and act before
they do." He said it was necessary that companies make the public battle
a top  priority.