[Ip-health] IAS Sydney - pre-conference community strategy meeting

[Wim Vandevelde]

FOR IAS SYDNEY 2007 PARTICIPANTS:

We're setting up a pre-conference community strategy meeting on Sunday
afternoon July 22nd, from 15h00 till 16h00.
This pre-meeting will be an opportunity for treatment advocates to
discuss about how to collectively deal with topics such as:
- Viracept recall / Roche
- Thailand /ACT-UP Paris / Abbott
- ...
Anyone interested to attend this strategy meeting please contact us
off-list for more details.
Thanks,
Wim
wim@eatg.org


-------- Mensagem Original --------

Thanks, Carmen!
Below please find the latest list of endorsing organizations.
More organizational endorsements are still very much welcome to make our
voices heard loud and clear!
Best,
Wim

-------- Mensagem Original --------
Assunto: ITPC FW: [ECAB] International sign-on Abbott: Stop the
intimidations! We will not be silenced!
Data: Mon, 16 Jul 2007 10:11:49 +0100
De: Carmen Tarrades <carmen@icw.org <mailto:carmen%40icw.org>>
Para: <internationaltreatmentpreparedness@yahoogroups.com
<mailto:internationaltreatmentpreparedness%40yahoogroups.com>>
CC: <ukcab@i-base.org.uk <mailto:ukcab%40i-base.org.uk>>

Apologies if you already have received this but it does look as if we
need more organizations to be signing to the petition! Please do distribute=
!

All the best

Carmen

Carmen Tarrades


----------------------------------------------------------

*From:* ecab-bounces@eatg.org <mailto:ecab-bounces%40eatg.org>
[mailto:ecab-bounces@eatg.org <mailto:ecab-bounces%40eatg.org>] *On Behalf
Of *Wim Vandevelde
*Sent:* 13 July 2007 17:23
*To:* 'EATG Members'; ECAB; ATAC-DrugDev@yahoogroups.com
<mailto:ATAC-DrugDev%40yahoogroups.com>
*Subject:* [ECAB] International sign-on Abbott: Stop the intimidations!
We will not be silenced!

PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY.
Sorry for cross-postings.

Dear Friends,

Attached and pasted below is the text of a sign-on action with the
initial endorsements from AIDS organizations in regards to the on-going
intimidations from Abbott against Thailand and ACT-UP Paris.

We need your help! More organizational endorsements will send a clear
message to Abbott. If your organization can lend its support to this
effort by endorsing this sign-on action, please send an e-mail to
petition.abbott@gmail.com <mailto:petition.abbott%40gmail.com> with the
name
and country of your organization. This letter is for organisational
sign-ons, we are not collecting the signatures of individuals for the
moment. We do encourage all organisations to sign, even if they are part
of a larger coalition that has already signed.
Thank you for your support!

Wim Vandevelde
EATG
www.eatg.org <http://www.eatg.org <http://www.eatg.org>>

-----------------------------------
SIGN-ON TEXT:

ABBOTT: STOP THE INTIMIDATION! WE WILL NOT BE SILENCED!

/Global AIDS community expresses solidarity with Thailand and ACT
UP-Paris; Abbott urged to immediately drop the charges against the AIDS
organization /

On May 23rd Abbott Laboratories, manufacturers of the anti-retroviral
drugs Norvir and Kaletra, became the first pharmaceutical company to
intentionally attempt to cause the demise of an HIV/AIDS community group
by filing a lawsuit in French criminal court against ACT UP-Paris.
Abbott claims ACT UP-Paris=E2=80=99 April website =E2=80=9Czap=E2=80=9D shu=
t down its server for
a few hours prior to its annual shareholders meeting.

French law forbids the limiting of access to a website, unless a
defendant has a =E2=80=9Clegitimate motive=E2=80=9D. Holding Abbott account=
able for
unethical business conduct and highlighting Abbott=E2=80=99s denial of esse=
ntial
medicines can surely be interpreted as a legitimate and honorable motive.

A Paris judge has scheduled an Oct. 26 hearing in criminal court. If
ACT UP Paris loses the criminal case, French law proscribes a maximum
fine of =E2=82=AC75,000, or $100,000 and/or the disbanding of the AIDS
organization. Either option will result in the closure of ACT UP-Paris.

HIV patients, doctors and their organizations have scorned Abbott for
many years as a result of excessive prices charged for its HIV drugs and
for the 400% price increase of its monopoly boosting drug, Norvir, in
the United States. The company is now divesting from HIV research and
remains only interested in maximizing returns from its existing HIV
products.

In recent months, the company has been embroiled in a standoff over
access to its drug Kaletra in Thailand. ACT UP-Paris was among the many
AIDS activist groups globally that joined an International Day of Action
on April 26, 2007, to protest against the company=E2=80=99s withdrawal of
applications for new life-saving drugs in Thailand.

Earlier this year, Thailand stated that it could not afford Abbott=E2=80=99=
s
price for Kaletra. The Thai government announced that it planned to use
compulsory license provisions, pursuant to international trade law, that
allows countries to procure cheaper generic versions of a patented drug
in health emergencies. By utilizing compulsory license provisions, the
Thai government would save millions of dollars that could be used for
life-saving medications for its citizens.

Abbott countered by announcing that it would not register any newly
developed drugs in Thailand, depriving that country of the new form of
Kaletra that, in contrast to the current form, does not require
refrigeration, an obvious issue in tropical Thailand. Despite the fact
that the compulsory licenses for Kaletra were legally issued by the Thai
government in accordance with WTO TRIPS provisions, Abbott announced
that it would refuse access of its new heat-stable version of Kaletra to
the 220.000 HIV patients in Thailand.

The World Health Organization, doctors and community organizations
globally have called upon Abbott to reexamine its position. The French
and British governments publicly supported the Thai government=E2=80=99s ri=
ght
to issue the compulsory drug licenses. People living with HIV/AIDS in
Thailand have pleaded with Abbott to reverse its decision and called
upon the international community to show solidarity with their cause.
ACT UP-Paris responded to their call with the alleged criminal =E2=80=9Cact=
ion=E2=80=9D.

Phone and fax zaps or sit-ins, which have disrupted corporate
communication for short periods of time, or blocked employee work
access, are not new to AIDS activism. These tactics have been used by
many other activists throughout the many years of the long epidemic to
draw attention to government or corporate acts and omissions.

Such community =E2=80=9Cactions=E2=80=9D in the past have been responded to=
 by
government and industry by initiating direct meetings to discuss options
and solutions to very real problems and concerns. This has lead to
regularly meeting with the community, who represent, and in many
instances who are the actual consumers of the products generated by
industry and government. This process has led to practices that are
mutually beneficial to all stakeholders =E2=80=93 expedited and ethical dru=
g
development and research, resulting in greater profits for industry and
the dramatic extension of life and quality of life of people with HIV/AIDS.

We believe Abbott=E2=80=99s aggressive legal moves are disproportionate and
misguided. We call on Abbott to immediately withdraw its lawsuit, to
meet with ACT UP-Paris and agree to change its current hostile policies
and practices. If Abbott continues to bully ACT UP-Paris and patients
internationally, AIDS organizations will have no choice but to continue
to engage in such =E2=80=9Cactions=E2=80=9D and to inform all stakeholders =
of the
unethical practices implemented by Abbott Laboratories.

The undersigned organizations stand firm in their solidarity with the
Thai HIV community and ACT UP-Paris. We welcome this opportunity to
debate Abbott=E2=80=99s shameful policies in Thailand and elsewhere. Regard=
less
of Abbott=E2=80=99s decision on the case against ACT UP-Paris, we will not =
be
intimidated and we will continue to do everything in our power to
convince the company to reverse its unprecedented decisions to stifle
freedom of speech and deprive the Thai people of life-saving medications.

Actions Traitements, France

African HIV Policy Network, UK

AIDES, France

AIDS ACCESS Foundation, Thailand

AIDS Action Baltimore, USA

AIDS Cell Ibn Sina Academy, India

AIDS Healthcare Foundation, USA

AIDS Treatment Activists Coalition (ATAC), USA

American Medical Student Association (AMSA), USA

Arbeitsgemeinschaft Aids & Haft, Germany

Arcigay Il Cassero, Italy

Asia Pacific Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (APN+)

Body Positive, New Zealand

Body Positive Waikato, New Zealand

Canadian Treatment Action Council (CTAC), Canada

CNCD -11.11.11, Belgium

Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project (CHAMP), USA

Delhi Network of Positive People (DNP+), India

END AIDS NOW!, USA, Great Britain, Denmark, France

European AIDS Treatment Group (EATG), Belgium

European Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (ENP+), The Netherlands

Foundation for Integrative AIDS Research (FIAR), USA

Georgian Plus Group, Georgia

Global AIDS Alliance, USA

Global Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (GNP+), The Netherlands

GRAIN, Spain

Grupo de Trabajo sobre Tratamientos del VIH (gTt), Spain

Grupo Portugu=C3=AAs de Activistas sobre Tratamentos de VIH/SIDA (GAT), Por=
tugal

Health GAP (Global Access Project), USA

HIV Scotland, UK

Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU), Hungary

International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (ICW)

Lega Italiana per la Lotta contro l'Aids (LILA), Italy

Japanese Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (JaNP+), Japan

Malaysian Treatment Access & Advocacy Group (MTAAG+), Malaysia

Network of Zimbabwean Positive Women (NZPW+), Zimbabwe

New York Buyers' Club (NYBC), USA

Passerelle SIDA, Burkina Faso

PITA Foundation, Indonesia

Positive-Generation, Cameroun

Project Inform, USA

Russian Harm Reduction Network, Russia

SERES, Portugal

SIDACTION, France

Syndicat National des Entreprises Gaies (SNEG), France

Thai Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (TNP+), Thailand

The Centre, Zimbabwe

TRT-5, France

UK Coalition of People Living with HIV and AIDS (UKC), UK

Virtus, Ukraine

__._,_.___