[Ip-health] SGAC: Abbott Promises Shareholders Expanded AIDS Drug Access, But Fails to Deliver, Activists Protest

[Mike Palmedo]

http://www.fightglobalaids.org/news/?p=3D42

Abbott Promises Shareholders Expanded AIDS Drug Access, But Fails to
Deliver: Activists Protest

Student Global AIDS Campaign
April 28, 2006

While activists around the world protested Abbott Laboratories AIDS
policies today, Abbott shareholders attended the company=92s annual
meeting where the CEO, Miles White, pledged to expand the company=92s
access initiative to provide affordable drugs to countries in need.
Hours later, however, the company =93clarified=94 that it apparently has no
intention of offering affordable prices to =93middle=94 income countries
like Guatemala as activists had asked.

This morning over a hundred activists conducted two simultaneous =93die
in=94 actions outside the shareholders meeting and the Tribune Building in
Chicago, where White sits on the board. These actions coincided with
similar actions at Abbott offices in five states and actions in Nigeria,
Tanzania, Thailand, and the UK.

Several members of the Student Global AIDS Campaign attended the
shareholder meeting, where Andrew Kohan, SGAC member from the George
Washington University, questioned White about the ACCESS program. Kohan
asked White whether the company would expand the program=97which offers
Kaletra at $500/patient/year to 69 countries=97to include the nearly 50
other =93lower-middle=94 and =93middle income=94 countries excluded from
Abbott=92s program but very much in need. Competitors Merck and Gilead
both provide lower priced drugs to many more nations and the World
Health Organization and UNAIDS have asked Abbott to follow suit by
expanding the program to 117 countries. These nations include millions
living on less than $2/day, and yet in places like Guatemala Kaletra
costs over $5,000/patient/year, instead of the $500 price in Africa.

White seemed to publicly indicate a commitment to an expanded ACCESS
program, saying that no country in need of access should be
excluded=97including middle-income countries facing high prices for
Kaletra. The company=92s actions, however, show the opposite, as company
spokespeople later clarified that Abbott may not expand its ACCESS
program as shareholders thought.

=93Mr. White indicated he believes in =91access=92 for people in need of th=
is
drug,=94 said Kohan, =93But apparently the company has no real plans to mak=
e
this access meaningful by offering affordable prices to thousands in
need but judged =91not poor enough=92 by Abbott. This hypocrisy will mean
people needlessly die.=94

On the more positive side, the company has finally publicly committed to
request the FDA paperwork (A Certificate of Pharmaceutical Manufacture)
that they would need to register Kaletra in Africa and the global South.
=93Since October they=92ve had FDA approval and could have gotten the neede=
d
paperwork from the US to register in Africa,=94 said Sara Renn, SGAC
grassroots action coordinator. =93Instead of waiting for European
approval, we look forward to them taking that step immediately to assure
the drug becomes available.=94 Abbott today received positive opinion from
European regulators, but are still 3 months from final approval. The
company recently, after pressure, shipped registration materials to
South Africa and announced a $500/patient/year price there.

Activists pledge to keep the pressure on White to turn his rhetoric of
=93access=94 into something meaningful by including thousands excluded from
the company=92s own =93ACCESS=94 program. Todays protest, which included a
coalition of students, medical students, doctors, AIDS activists, and
others has pledged to make this a top priority in coming months.

Students in Baylor, Texas, delivered empty pill bottles to Abbott with
an =93empty pills, empty promises=94 theme, and members of the Student
Global AIDS Campaign held similar protests and meetings Massachusetts,
New Jersey, Ohio, Virginia, Massachusetts, and Washington D.C. Students
around the country faxed and called Mr. White today, joining in
solidarity with activists holding events targeting Abbott in Nigeria,
Thailand, Tanzania, and the United Kingdom.