[Random-bits] Genetech blocks cheap blindness cure, US pressure on WHO official in Thailand

[James Love]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-love/genetech-blocks-cheap-=20
bli_b_23230.html

June 17, 2006 The Huffington Post
James Love

Genetech blocks cheap blindness cure, US pressure on WHO official in =20
Thailand

Terry Fisher from Harvard has pointed out this shocking story by =20
Sarah Boseley in today's Guardian. Jamie

* A major drug company is blocking access to a medicine that is =20
cheaply and effectively saving thousands of people from going blind =20
because it wants to launch a more expensive product on the market. =20
Ophthalmologists around the world, on their own initiative, are =20
injecting tiny quantities of a colon cancer drug called Avastin into =20
the eyes of patients with wet macular degeneration, a common =20
condition of older age that can lead to severely impaired eyesight =20
and blindness.
They report remarkable success at very low cost because one phial can =20=

be split and used for dozens of patients.

* But Genentech, the company that invented Avastin, does not want it =20
used in this way. Instead it is applying to license a fragment of =20
Avastin, called Lucentis, which is packaged in the tiny quantities =20
suitable for eyes at a higher cost. Speculation in the US suggests it =20=

could cost =A31,000 per dose instead of less than =A310. The company =
says =20
Lucentis is specifically designed for eyes, with modifications over =20
Avastin, and has been through 10 years of testing to prove it is safe.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1799832,00.html

Drugs firm blocks cheap blindness cure: Company will only seek =20
licence for medicine that costs 100 times more
Sarah Boseley, health editor
Saturday June 17, 2006
The Guardian

Susan Sell from George Washington University pointed out this one:

* BANGKOK - When World Health Organization (WHO) director general Lee =20=

Jong-wook died of a cerebral hemorrhage last month before the start =20
of the United Nations agency's annual World Health Assembly, the =20
world's most prominent public-health official was arguably of a =20
conflicted mind. The WHO veteran was caught in the middle of an =20
intensifying global debate over how to reconcile intellectual-=20
property protection with the pressing public-health need to expand =20
access to expensive life-saving medicines, a hot-button issue that =20
has sharply divided WHO member states along developed- and developing-=20=

country lines.

* An Asia Times Online investigation reveals that at the time of his =20
death, Lee, a South Korean national, had closely aligned himself with =20=

the US government and by association US corporate interests, often to =20=

the detriment of the WHO's most vital commitments and positions, =20
including its current drive to promote the production and marketing =20
of affordable generic antiretroviral drugs for millions of poor =20
infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which can cause =20=

AIDS.

* According to senior and middle-ranking WHO officials familiar with =20
the situation, Lee blatantly bent to US government pressure in March =20
when he made the controversial decision to recall the WHO country =20
representative to Thailand, William Aldis, who had served less than =20
16 months in what traditionally has been a four-year or longer posting.

* Aldis had made the mistake of penning a critical opinion piece in =20
the Bangkok Post newspaper in February that argued in consonance with =20=

WHO positions that Thailand should carefully consider before =20
surrendering its sovereign right to produce or import generic life-=20
saving medicines as allowed by the World Trade Organization (WTO) in =20
exchange for a bilateral free-trade agreement (FTA) with the United =20
States, which is currently under negotiation.

* The WHO official also wrote that the stricter intellectual-property =20=

protection measures in the proposed US-Thai FTA would inevitably lead =20=

to higher drug prices and thereby jeopardize the lives of "hundreds =20
of thousands" of Thai citizens who now depend on access to locally =20
produced cheap medicines to survive. He noted too that the Thai =20
government's current production of generic treatments had allowed the =20=

country to reduce AIDS-related deaths by a whopping 79%.

* A US ambassador to the UN in Geneva paid a private visit to Lee on =20
March 23 to express Washington's displeasure with Aldis' newspaper =20
commentary, according to WHO officials familiar with the meeting. A =20
follow-up letter from the US government addressed to Lee strongly =20
impressed Washington's view of the importance of the WHO to remain =20
"neutral and objective" and requested that Lee personally remind =20
senior WHO officials of those commitments, according to a WHO staff =20
member who reviewed the correspondence. The next day, Lee informed =20
the regional office in New Delhi of his decision to recall Aldis.

* Suwit Wibulpolprasert, senior adviser to the Thai Ministry of =20
Public Health, early this month sent a formal letter to acting WHO =20
director general Anders Nordstrom, requesting an official explanation =20=

for Aldis' abrupt removal. According to a WHO official in Geneva with =20=

knowledge of the correspondence, the letter raised questions about =20
possible US influence behind the irregular personnel rotation and =20
said that if the WHO decision was motivated by Aldis' comments on the =20=

US-Thai FTA, then the WHO should reconsider the transfer.

* Suwit also raised his concerns about the level of transparency and =20
freedom of speech inside the WHO. In e-mail communication with this =20
correspondent, Suwit said WHO officials had already denied that =20
Aldis' recall was related to the opinions stated in the Bangkok Post =20
article. A regional WHO official in New Delhi told a senior Thai =20
public-health official that Aldis' removal was related to =20
"inefficiency" in performing his functions - a characterization that =20
Thai officials who worked alongside him through the 2004 tsunami and =20
ongoing avian-influenza scare have privately contested.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/HF17Ae01.html

Asia Time Online - Daily News
AN ATol INVESTIGATION World health: A lethal dose of US politics
By Dylan C Williams

---------------------------------
James Love, CPTech / www.cptech.org / mailto:james.love@cptech.org / =20
tel. +1.202.332.2670 / mobile +1.202.361.3040

"If everyone thinks the same: No one thinks."  Bill Walton