please call ASAP (remember what they say...more than ten calls on any
given issue makes them "sweat" on the Hill) Best, Ylva
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2000 00:37:41 -0800
From: David Mozer <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
To: wa-afr <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: [wa-afr] FW: URGENT ACTION: AGOA and AIDS drugs
-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2000 9:56 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: URGENT ACTION: Alert re: AGOA and AIDS drugs
Dear ADNA members,
Following find an urgent action alert from the Washington Office on
Africa regarding African countries abilities to provide more
affordable AIDS treatments to their populations. Please share this
widely and quickly as the possibility for the amendment is very time
sensitive. Note the essential contacts at the bottom that have fax
numbers included for quick response. For further information
contact WOA directly at [log in to unmask]
Thank you.
Regards,
Vicki Ferguson
ADNA Communications Facilitator
Date sent: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 10:35:33 -0500
From: Leon Spencer <[log in to unmask]>
Send reply to: [log in to unmask]
Organization: Washington Office on Africa
Subject: Alert for possible posting
The Washington Office on Africa:
An Urgent Action Alert
March 2000
The availability of medicines to confront HIV/AIDS in Africa:
Pharmaceutical companies and the African Growth and Opportunity
Act
In the past few days US pharmaceutical companies have been
lobbying hard to remove an amendment from the African Growth
and Opportunity Act that allows the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa
to pursue "compulsory licensing" of HIV/AIDS medications.
Compulsory licensing involves authorizing a government or company
to make and sell a product (such as a drug) without the permission
of the patent holder. Licenses are generally issued on the basis of
public interest, in this case, the health of an immense population.
The practice is entirely legal under World Trade Organization rules.
Introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), the amendment thus
enhances the ability of African nations to respond to the pandemic
by allowing them to license the manufacture and sale of AIDS drugs
at prices that render them available to the greatest number of
people. The Western pharmaceutical industry sees the practice as
a threat. They are therefore seeking the removal of the Feinstein
amendment. There is a simplicity to the amendment, and we
therefore find it best to reproduce it in its entirety:
SEC. 116. ACCESS TO HIV/AIDS PHARMACEUTICALS AND
MEDICAL TECHNOLOGIES.
(a) FINDINGS- Congress finds that-
(1) since the onset of the worldwide HIV/AIDS epidemic,
approximately 34,000,000 people living in sub-Saharan Africa have
been infected with the disease; (2) of those infected, approximately
11,500,000 have died; and (3) the deaths represent 83 percent of
the total HIV/AIDS-related deaths worldwide.
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS- It is the sense of Congress that- (1) it
is in the interest of the United States to take all necessary steps to
prevent further spread of infectious disease, particularly HIV/AIDS;
(2) there is critical need for effective incentives to develop new
pharmaceuticals, vaccines, and therapies to combat the HIV/AIDS
crisis, especially effective global standards for protecting
pharmaceutical and medical innovation; (3) the overriding priority
for responding to the crisis on HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa
should be the development of the infrastructure necessary to deliver
adequate health care services, and of public education to prevent
transmission and infection, rather than legal standards issues; and
(4) individual countries should have the ability to determine the
availability of pharmaceuticals and health care for their citizens in
general, and particularly with respect to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
(c) LIMITATION ON USE OF FUNDS- Funds appropriated or
otherwise made available to any department or agency of the United
States may not be obligated or expended to seek, through
negotiation or otherwise, the revocation or revision of any intellectual
property or competition law or policy that regulates HIV/AIDS
pharmaceuticals or medical technologies of a beneficiary sub-
Saharan African country if the law or policy promotes access to
HIV/AIDS pharmaceuticals or medical technologies and the law or
policy of the country provides adequate and effective intellectual
property protection consistent with the Agreement on Trade-Related
Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights referred to in section
101(d)(15) of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act.
Discerning our actions: What we at WOA think
International trade policy is not an easy subject to plunge into, but
the essence of this modest but useful amendment is to prevent the
US government from using its power to seek to prevent the practice
of compulsory licensing by African nations who are trying, through
such licensing, to make AIDS medications and treatments available
to their people. The US government did just that - trying to prevent
compulsory licensing - in South Africa. Though the Clinton
administration has moderated its stance, the amendment still is a
worthy one deserving our support.
Here are some points to consider - which also may be used as good
talking points should you call Senators and Representatives, for
many members of Congress have clearly embraced the
pharmaceutical companies' arguments.
1. With the lead of the US, the UN Security Council in January took
on AIDS in Africa as a security issue. It is important that this trade
agreement between the US and Africa allow African nations the
flexibility to respond to a health crisis that has become such a
tremendous threat to international security.
2. The nations of Africa should not be impeded from responding to
this emergency by a Western response that treats health care as an
economic commodity rather than a right.
3. The rising concern over the global AIDS crisis has highlighted the
need to change US trade policy. With more than 22 million persons
currently infected with HIV/AIDS in Africa, and millions more in
developing countries outside of Africa, it is clear that the costs of
treatment would be astronomical, if there ever was a serious effort to
do so. A typical HIV/AIDS cocktail in the US costs more than
$10,000 per year for the drugs alone. At just $10,000 per year, it
would cost more than $222 billion per year to provide drugs to the
current population of African persons living with HIV/AIDS. Without
compulsory licensing, the vast majority of HIV/AIDS patients in
Africa could be unable to afford the more expensive drugs from
American pharmaceutical companies.
4. The US government has been an aggressive opponent of the use
of compulsory licensing of patents on medicines by developing
countries. It does not accept the WTO rules as appropriate for
African countries. It seeks much higher levels of protection - so
called "TRIPS plus" levels of protection. This stance is itself a
seeming violation of WTO rules, for article 1 of the TRIPS says that
"Members shall not be obliged to implement in their law more
extensive protection than is required by this Agreement. Members
shall be free to determine the appropriate method of implementing
the provisions of this Agreement within their own legal system
practice."
5. Drug companies argue that compulsory licensing will reduce the
pharmaceutical companies' incentives to do research and
development, but much of this research has been funded by the US
government, and Africa only accounts for about 1.3 percent of the
worldwide pharmaceutical market anyway.
Actions
Presently the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act is in conference
committee, since the House and Senate versions differ. We are
asking that you please call the following offices and ask that
representatives do all in their power to keep the amendment (section
116 in the Senate engrossed text) introduced by Sen. Feinstein.
House International Relations Committee:
Edward Royce (R-CA) tel: 202-225-4111 fax: 202-226-0335
Donald Payne (D-NJ) tel: 202-225-3436 fax: 202-225-4160
Sam Gejdenson (D-CT) tel: 202-225-2073 fax: 202-225-4977
House Ways and Means Committee
Philip Crane (R-IL) tel: 202-225-3711 fax: 202-225-7830
Sander Levin (D-MI) tel: 202-225-4961 fax: 202-226-1033
Senate Managers of the Bill:
Trent Lott (R-MS) 202-224-6253 fax: 202-224-2262
Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY) 202-224-4451 fax: 202-228-0406
You may write to Senators at the US Senate, Washington, DC
20510, or write to Members of Congress at the US House of
Representatives, Washington, DC 20515. But remember, time is of
the esssence!
The Washington Office on Africa acknowledges with thanks the
Maryknoll action alert on this subject, prepared by Kathy McNeely (a
member of the WOA Board) and from which this action alert has
been adapted.
***
Message reposted at the request of the Washington Office on Africa
to the Advocacy Network for Africa.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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