[Ip-health] (no subject)

[jeromemartin@samizdat.net]

Bernard Kouchner in Thailand :
Siding with Big Pharma or siding with people with AIDS?

Press release, Tuesday, October 30th


Today, Tuesday, October 30th, Bernard Kouchner, the French Minister of Fore=
ign
Affairs, will travel to Thailand. As a former humanitarian doctor, Bernard
Kouchner is going to have to take sides. Will he support the big pharmaceut=
ical
companies, or on the contrary will he stand by the Thai patients in their f=
ight
for affordable generic drugs ?

On the 27th of March 2007, the previous French Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Philippe Douste-Blazy, issued a statement backing the decision of the Thai
government to distribute generic versions of two major antiretroviral drugs
againts aids to its sick (see the French government wedbsite [1]). As
pharmaceutical companies were accusing Thailand of violating international
patent law, France has used its statement to affirm the opposite

However, since March, France seems to have made a complete U-turn about
Thailand. Indeed, France pushed the European Commission to exert pressure
against Thailand in support of French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi (see the =
July
18th letter from the European Commissioner to Thailand [2], that mentions
precisely the French pharmaceutical company=92s blockbuster drug, which Tha=
iland
has decided to import as a generic).

Moreover, France has remained silent when US pharmaceutical company Abbott =
Labs
publicly announced a deadly blockade, against all Thai AIDS patients, from
purchasing its lifesaving HIV medication Aluvia. Abbott had justified the
deadly blockade as a means to force the Thai government to grant it a monop=
oly
on sales of Aluvia in Thailand (see Abbott statement in the Wall Street Jou=
rnal
ofMarch 13th 2007 [3])

Act Up-Paris demands :
that Bernard Kouchner reaffirm France's support for the Thai government's
decision to resort to generic competition as a means to ensure maximum acce=
ss
to treatment (as the previous minister of Foreign Affairs did last March)

- that Bernard Kouchner condemn Abbott publicly and state that it is immora=
l for
a pharmaceutical company to deprive patients of a lifesaving drug as a ploy=
 to
force the government to grant a monoply on sales of this drug.

Contact : J=E9r=F4me Martin + 33 6 94 47 20 92

NOTES:
[1] French government statement supporting the Thai compulsory licenses:
http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/actions-france_830/financements-innovants-=
du-developpement_14483/facilite-internationale-achat-medicaments_14484/reco=
urs-aux-licences-obligatoires-du-gouvernement-thailandais-pour-deux-anti-re=
troviraux-contre-vih-sida-26.03.07_48047.html
[2] Letter of European Trade Commisser to Thailand against generic competit=
ion
to Sanofi, acquired and published online by Act Up Paris :
http://www.actupparis.org/IMG/pdf/Lettre_de_Mandelson_--_la_Tha--lande.pdf
[3] =91Abbott Won't Launch New Drugs In Thailand After Patent Revocation=92=
, by
Nicholas Zamiska, Wall Street Journal, 13.03.2007,
www.aegis.com/news/wsj/2007/WJ070304.html


Contact : J=E9r=F4me Martin + 33 6 84 47 20 92


NOTES:
[1]
http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/actions-france_830/financements-innovants-=
du-developpement_14483/facilite-internationale-achat-medicaments_14484/reco=
urs-aux-licences-obligatoires-du-gouvernement-thailandais-pour-deux-anti-re=
troviraux-contre-vih-sida-26.03.07_48047.html
[2] http://www.actupparis.org/IMG/pdf/Letter_from_Mandelson_to_Thailand.pdf
http://www.actupparis.org/IMG/pdf/Letter_from_Aides_Actup-Paris_to_Mandelso=
n.pdf

[3] =91Abbott Won't Launch New Drugs In Thailand After Patent Revocation=92=
, by
Nicholas Zamiska, Wall Street Journal, 13.03.2007,
www.aegis.com/news/wsj/2007/WJ070304.html