[Ip-health] Boston Globe: Research Universities Must Act

[Sarah Rimmington]

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/10/03/research_universities_must_act/

The Boston Globe

ETHAN GUILLEN AND RACHEL KIDDELL-MONROE
Research universities must act

By Ethan Guillen and Rachel Kiddell-Monroe  |  October
3, 2007

AS HARVARD'S new president takes the helm, over 300
students from the United States, Canada, and the
United Kingdom converged on the university last
weekend for the fourth annual conference of
Universities Allied for Essential Medicines. UAEM
leads an international student movement to make the
fruits of university research - in particular,
lifesaving medications developed in university labs -
available in developing countries. The convergence of
UAEM's growing movement in Cambridge has presented a
moment of opportunity - and imperative - for Boston's
universities.

In her address to the parents of the Class of 2011,
the first class over which she will preside, Harvard
President Drew Faust reminded us that universities are
unique because of their "missions of public service."

"The research university," she said, "is a strange
hybrid of free thought and worldly utility, pursuing
knowledge for its own sake, and at the same time
advancing knowledge for the public good."

Last spring, Harvard joined eight other leading
universities in a statement of principles,
proclaiming, in a similar voice, that "in no field is
the importance [of universities' special role] clearer
than it is in medicine." The statement acknowledged
that universities therefore have a "responsibility" to
help ensure that university-developed medicines are
available "globally, at sustainable and affordable
prices, for the benefit of the world's poor."

But, as one of Harvard's peer universities has
demonstrated, words are not enough. In Thailand,
people are being denied life-saving treatment because
Abbott Industries has withdrawn all its medicines from
the Thai market. The government is facing a massive
health crisis as a result of HIV/AIDS, yet it cannot
afford to pay the very high prices of HIV/AIDS
medicines being charged by some brand-name
pharmaceutical companies. It decided, in the interests
of its own people, to exercise its legal right to
allow Thai generic companies to produce reasonably
priced medications for Thai HIV/AIDS patients. Abbott
struck back at the Thai patients themselves. The move
has been condemned by Doctors without Borders, Bill
Clinton, and many others.

Critically, among the seven drugs that Abbott withdrew
is Zemplar, a life-saving kidney medication developed
by scientists at the University of Wisconsin. Students
at Wisconsin approached their university about the
disconnect between Abbott's behavior and the
principles that Wisconsin embraced in last year's
statement, about how it expected its discoveries to be
deployed. The licensing office associated with the
university replied: "Abbott Laboratories is a good
friend of [Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation] and
the university, particularly in the hiring of UW
graduates. . . . We trust that Abbott Laboratories is
committed to doing its part to meet the health needs
of people around the world, including Thailand. We
support Abbott in that commitment."

What has become of the special role of universities?
Unfortunately, as Wisconsin has shown this year, mere
statements of principle and words on paper are not
enough. It is time for universities to act on their
promises.

Most university medical research is funded with
taxpayer money. The medicines our scientists discover
should benefit the people who need them. Last year in
Philadelphia, UAEM students launched the "Philadelphia
Consensus Statement," signed by thousands, including
eminent scholars, Nobel laureates, activists, and
university students around the world. The statement
called on universities to include explicit access
provisions in the agreements those universities make
with pharmaceutical companies, governing the use of
the university patent on the medical discovery. Such
provisions would allow generic drug companies to
produce low-cost versions of university-discovered
drugs as long as they were destined only for the
developing world.

The UAEM student leaders meeting in Harvard last
weekend called on their universities to act urgently
to give teeth to their promises. The University of
Wisconsin must demand that Abbott Industries
reinstates Zemplar on the Thai market, along with the
other essential medicines. Universities must honor
their social role by joining the movement to ensure
that patients worldwide have access to the life-saving
drugs that have been funded by the American public and
discovered by American scientists working in American
universities. Harvard and MIT should commit to leading
the way in turning the promises of their commitment
from words into action.

Rachel Kiddell-Monroe is the board president and Ethan
Guillen is the executive director of Universities
Allied for Essential Medicines.

--
Sarah Rimmington
Attorney
Essential Action, Access to Medicines Project
Washington, DC
Tel: (202) 387-8030
Cell: (202) 422-2687
www.essentialaction.org/access/