[Ip-health] Civil society organizes for access to LPV/r (Kaletra) and compulsory licenses in Latin America

Tue Feb 3 11:30:12 2009

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[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
Thursday and Friday, January 22-23, civil society groups from all
over Ecuador met in Quito to sign the charter for a new national HIV/
AIDS network, REDEVIDA.

Monday January 26, REDEVIDA delivered a letter to the Ministry of
Public Health in Ecuador, signed by delegates from nineteen member
organizations, in "unconditional and complete" support of an
Essential Action proposal to reduce prices and improve access to
patented HIV/AIDS treatment lopinavir/ritonavir (Abbott's Kaletra) in
Ecuador through open licensing.

On Tuesday, REDEVIDA and the Ecuadorean Coalition of Persons Living
with HIV/AIDS sent a letter to civil society groups in Mexico and the
United States, in support of their campaigns against Abbott's unfair
pricing schemes, and in Colombia, in support of their compulsory
license request for Kaletra, now pending with the Colombian government.

On Wednesday, activists in Mexico (Mexico City, Tabasco and Tijuana),
the United States (Chicago) and Colombia (Bogot=E1) demonstrated
against Abbott's Kaletra prices in protests at Abbott offices and
press conferences organized by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation and
local groups.  Kaletra prices in Mexico and Colombia range from about
$3,500 to $6,000 per person per year (the $1683 Colombia "public
sector price" about which we've previously written seems to be very
sparsely applied, perhaps only to the military).

A few photos from the demo at Abbott's Bogot=E1 office, which focused
on both price and the pending compulsory license request, are
available online here.  If the link doesn't work, paste in: http://
picasaweb.google.com/comunicacion.positiva/PlantonAbbottBogota#
Special credit is due Clinton Trout and Luz Marina Umbas=EDa for their
hard work.

An archive of news stories on the Colombia compulsory license request
is available here (in Spanish).  Information is also available in
English here.

The text of the REDEVIDA letter sent to civil society groups in
Mexico, Colombia and the U.S. is pasted below, first in English
(translation and any errors mine), then in the original Spanish.

These actions follow international demonstrations uniting many groups
against Abbott's high prices and for LPV/r compulsory licenses at the
International AIDS Conference in Mexico this past August.

Civil society groups and government health advocates are poised to
initiate a regional movement for access to lopinavir/ritonavir, with
compulsory licensing as a primary access-promoting tool.

I can provide more information and some of the proposals, documents,
letters and government responses on request.
- Peter Maybarduk for Essential Action

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LETTER IN SUPPORT OF THE COMPULSORY LICENSE REQUEST FOR THE
ANTIRETROVIRAL KALETRA IN COLOMBIA AND OF THE SIMILAR PROPOSAL NOW
UNDER CONSIDERATION IN ECUADOR

Dear:
-      Colombian Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (RECOLVIH) /
Working Group of HIV/AIDS Organizations

-      International Coalition of Treatment Activists (CIAT)

-      Member groups of the Ecuadorean Network of Organizations
Working in HIV/AIDS (REDEVIDA)

We send brotherly greetings from the Ecuadorean Coalition of persons
living with HIV/AIDS (CEPVVS) and the Ecuadorean network of
organizations and groups working in HIV/AIDS.

In common cause, we support the proposal to obtain a compulsory
license for the antiretroviral HIV/AIDS medicine Kaletra, sold by
Abbott in Colombia, and from a distance we join the =93Stand Against
Abbott=94 to assist this request.

This license will permit the substantial reduction of antiretroviral
treatment costs, which will in turn contribute to expanding access to
ARV treatment, the cost of which is too high for people living with
HIV/AIDS in Colombia.

We would like to announce that in Ecuador we are helping initiate a
similar process, which we hope the public health authorities and
President of the Republic of Ecuador will lead, and will decide to
issue an open license on the ARV Kaletra, and thus enable the
reduction of treatment costs and increase access to more people
living with HIV/AIDS.

We are sure your stand will be a fundamental advance in developing
public awareness about the necessity to reduce the costs of ARV
medicines in Colombia, Ecuador and other countries.

 From Quito, our solidarity and support!

RED ECUATORIANA DE ORGANIZACIONES Y GRUPOS QUE TRABAJAN EN VIH/SIDA
REDEVIDA

COALICION ECUATORIANA DE PERSONAS QUE VIVEN CON VIH/SIDA CEPVVS
Lcdo. Santiago Jaramillo
SECRETARIO GENERAL COALICION ECUATORIANA DE PVVS
SECRETARIO EJECUTIVO RED ECUATORIANA DE ORGANIZACIONES Y GRUPOS CON
TRABAJO EN VIH/SIDA -REDEVIDA-

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CARTA DE APOYO PARA LA LICENCIA OBLIGATORIA DEL ANTIRRETROVIRAL
KALETRA EN COLOMBIA Y PARA LAS MISMAS GESTIONES QUE SE HAN EMPEZADO A
REALIZAR EN ECUADOR

Estimados/as:

-      RED COLOMBIANA DE PERSONAS QUE VIVEN CON VIH/SIDA RECOLVIH /
MESA DE ORGANIZACIONES QUE TRABAJAN EN VIH/SIDA

-     COALICI=D3N INTERNACIONAL DE ACTIVISTAS EN TRATAMIENTOS CIAT

-    ORGANIZACIONES Y GRUPOS INTEGRANTES DE LA RED ECUATORIANA DE
ORGANIZACIONES Y GRUPOS QUE TRABAJAN EN VIH/SIDA REDEVIDA

Reciban un fraternal saludo  de la Coalici=F3n ecuatoriana de personas
que viven con vih/sida =96CEPVVS- y la red ecuatoriana de
organizaciones y grupos que trabajan en vih/sida =96REDEVIDA-

Nos solidarizamos y apoyamos la propuesta para obtener la licencia
obligatoria del medicamento antirretroviral kaletra para el vih/sida,
de la farmace=FAtica Abbott en Colombia, y nos unimos desde la
distancia al PLANTON CONTRA ABBOTT para apoyar dicho pedido.

Dicha licencia permitir=E1 reducir sustancialmente los costos del
tratamiento antirretroviral, lo cual contribuir=E1 a ampliar el acceso
a tratamientos ARV's, cuyos costos son demasiado altos, para las
personas que viven con vih/sida el Colombia.

Queremos expresar que en el Ecuador estamos promoviendo el inicio de
un proceso similar, ante lo cual esperamos que las autoridades de la
salud y la Presidencia de la Rep=FAblica del Ecuador tomen las
decisiones del caso para lograr una licencia abierta del ARV kaletra
y as=ED poder reducir los costos del tratamiento y ampliar el acceso a
mas PVVS.

Estamos seguros que el plant=F3n convocado por ustedes ser=E1 un avance
fundamental para crear conciencia sobre la necesidad de reducir los
costes de los medicamentos ARV's en Colombia, Ecuador y otros pa=EDses.

=A1DESDE QUITO, NUESTRA SOLIDARIDAD Y APOYO!

RED ECUATORIANA DE ORGANIZACIONES Y GRUPOS QUE TRABAJAN EN VIH/SIDA
REDEVIDA

COALICION ECUATORIANA DE PERSONAS QUE VIVEN CON VIH/SIDA CEPVVS
Lcdo. Santiago Jaramillo
SECRETARIO GENERAL COALICION ECUATORIANA DE PVVS
SECRETARIO EJECUTIVO RED ECUATORIANA DE ORGANIZACIONES Y GRUPOS CON
TRABAJO EN VIH/SIDA -REDEVIDA-
calle Juan Agama N30-77 y Cuero y Caicedo, primer piso
Quito - Ecuador
Telefax: 593 2 2522202 / 593 2 2569929
Correo-e: cepvvsecuador@yahoo.com