[Pharm-policy] Report from the Pfizer's Mouth

[P. Davis]

Forwarded message:
>From healthgap@CritPath.Org Thu Mar 23 10:01 EST 2000
Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2000 10:00:14 -0500 (EST)
Message-Id: <200003231445.JAA03431@smtp10.atl.mindspring.net>
Errors-To: richard@atdn.org
Reply-To: healthgap@CritPath.Org
Originator: healthgap@critpath.org
Sender: healthgap@CritPath.Org
Precedence: bulk
From: "Eric Sawyer" <esawyer@igc.org>
To: Multiple recipients of list <healthgap@CritPath.Org>
Subject: Re: today's zap
X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas
X-Comment: Health Gloal Access Project (GAP) Coalition
Content-Type: text
Content-Length: 4477

Brigaitis apologized for not returning your or my calls (he assumed that 
Kate Barnhart was you Asia and called her Asia)  and for not responding to
our letter. He claimed that there were discussions going on "at the highest
levels of the Corporation on what to do to provide access to Diflucan and
how to respond to the TAC demands;" and that they were planning to respond
to TAC and our group before April 4th.

He stated that "they feel our pain and share our concerns and they will try
to get the situation resolved soon to attempt to provide increased access,
but there are so many concerns about how to deal with the situation and
increase access in resource poor setting where there is little health care
infrastructure."

I stated that I was sick of their infrastructure shit, that it was a lame
excuse and a lie and that we were not talking about difficult drugs to use
and complicated compliance issues.

They said that we needed to understand that it is difficult to turn a
multi-national corporation around on a major policy issue in a short period
of time.

I Stated that I understood that, but that they should do the math involved.
I stated with 3.5 million deaths predicted this year and 365 days a year,
almost 10,000 people die each day. I pointed out that between 15% and 20% or
people die of fungal infections, so they have the blood of 1,500 deaths on
their hands every day they delay.

I also stated that we were discussing using the April 14th IMF
demonstrations to outreach to other developing world activists, especially
students groups, to join us in organizing a boycott of Pfizer's non
essential products, (like Ben Gay, anti-allergy medicines and cortisone
creams) and re-starting conversations with NYS Controller Carl McCall and
NYC Comptroller Alan Hevisi about the NYC and NYS pension funds dumping drug
company stocks in a divestiture announcement to protest the genocide of the
poor through drug company price gauging.

I mentioned that I did not think investors would feel comfortable loaning
Pfizer money, through the holding of their stock, to conduct a practice of
holding a life saving drug like Diflucan above the heads of sick and dying
poor people, while they shook them down for their life's saving, telling the
poor to either "give us all your money, or go blind and die."

Brigaitis then said that they were definitely taking our concerns seriously
and that they would get back to us soon with a response.

John, from MSF then pointed out to them that TAC had told them clearly that
TAC wants to hear only answers to two questions:

1. Will you drop the price of Diflucan to the generic price of 60 cents a
day; and if not,
2. Will they cooperate in giving other governments or NGO's licenses to
produce or import generic versions of the fluconazle at the 60 cent price.

John stated that we were not interested in anything else they had to say; we
don't care to talk about their understanding of our pain or their
infrastructure assessment - we don't care what they think about their
opinion about these things. We only want to hear which of these alternatives
they were using to provide cheaper access to fluconazle.

At that point we said that there was no more to discuss and that they should
do the right thing or expect all hell to break loose.

Eric Sawyer


----------
>From: Asia Russell <asia@CritPath.Org>
>To: esawyer@igc.org
>Subject: today's zap
>Date: Wed, Mar 22, 2000, 11:11 PM
>

> congratulations on today's good work:
>
> question:  what did brigaitis say?
>
> also, please do what you can to let me know about this right ahead of
> time, even seconds before:  i am the person who has been trading messages
> wtih brigaitis, and it makes us look foolish when i am still demanding a
> meeting, and don't even know what our troops are doing.  You know what I
> mean?
>
> I look forward to more fierce actions!
>
> Asia 
===
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
HEALTHGAP Mailing List                            healthgap@critpath.org

To unsubscribe from HEALTHGAP, send a message with a BLANK SUBJECT LINE 
to listproc@critpath.org  

In the body of the message state the following:

unsubscribe healthgap 


IMPORTANT: If the unsubscription request fails, send a message to 
healthgap-owner@critpath.org and request to be removed manually. 

DO NOT SEND UNSUBSCRIBE REQUESTS TO THE LIST ITSELF.  

+------------------------------------------------------------------------+