Coming, Going and Gone: The Drug Development Pipeline, 2001
TAGline • 2001The Drug Development Pipeline, 2001 Development Terminated GW420867X/HBY1293 GlaxoSmithKline JAIDS 2000; also summer IAS meeting ALX40-4C Allelix Pharmaceuticals Formulation difficulties, lack of efficacy AMD3100 AnorMed Inc. Cardiac arrhythmias at high doses, lack of efficacy at low PD-178390 Parke-Davis Casualty of Pfizer merger CI-1012 Parke-Davis Casualty of Pfizer merger PNU-142721 Pharmacia & Upjohn Casualty of P&U’s…
Open Letter to Pharma Execs
TAGline • 2001“We have never been against patents. We have been against monopoly.” — Dr. Yusuf Hamied, CEO, Cipla Dear Sirs: We are writing as a coalition of AIDS treatment advocates, educators, and service providers to request that GlaxoSmithKline immediately withdraw from participation in threatened legal action regarding the importation of generic antiretroviral medications in Ghana and South…
Down the Pike: Argentina International AIDS Society Conference Snoozer Prompts Systematic Review of Drug Pipeline
TAGline • 2001Argentina International AIDS Society Conference Snoozer Prompts Systematic Review of Drug Pipeline By Mark Harrington “Underwhelmingly Innovative” The International AIDS Society inaugurated its new program of summer research meetings with a sleeper of a gathering in the southern hemisphere port city of Buenos Aires. Mark Harrington attended on behalf of TAG and sifted the new…
African Epistle: Outrage, Indifference Greet Plans for Worldwide Treatment Agenda — As Millions More Die
TAGline • 2001Outrage, Indifference Greet Plans for Worldwide Treatment Agenda — As Millions More Die By Mark Harrington “No Drugs in Time for Her” In April, Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary General, said it would take just $7-10 billion a year to mobilize the resources necessary to reverse the ravages not only of HIV, but of tuberculosis…
Vaccine Vitriol: Call for Poor Country Focus on Treatment, Care Programs Elicits Voice of Concern from Vaccine Outfit
TAGline • 2001Call for Poor Country Focus on Treatment, Care Programs Elicits Voice of Concern from Vaccine Outfit By Mark Harrington Price of Global Public Health HIV $4.06 billion TB $500 million Malaria $1.0 billion Add’l. infrastructure $440 million TOTAL, Yrs 1 – 3 $6.0 billion Add’l. rx and care $4.0 billion TOTAL, Yrs 5 –…
Stalled in the Gates: The Not So Accelerated Access Initiative
TAGline • 2001The Not So Accelerated Access Initiative By Mark Harrington In early April the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) held a small, secretive meeting in Hsbjr, Norway, on “Differential Pricing and Financing of Essential Drugs.” Initially, the meeting was stacked with representatives from the big drug companies, the International Federation of…
Brazil 1, Merck 0: The Cost of Generic Drugs in Brazil
TAGline • 2001The Cost of Generic Drugs in Brazil Indinavir Efavirenz USA $6,000(1) $4,700 Brazil (generic) $2,928 $2,545 Brazil (Merck 2001) $1,029 $920 “Low” HDI(2) country $600 $500 Price per year per person. Human Development Index of the United Nations, composite scoring of life expectancy, educational attainment, standard of living. Most of sub-Saharan Africa is scored…
March 5th: Day of Global Direct Action for Drug Access
TAGline • 2001An international coalition of 65 activist groups and over 100 AIDS activists, educators, health care workers and service providers from six continents and many countries around the world today called on GlaxoSmithKline, one of the world’s largest drug companies, to withdraw threatened lawsuits in Ghana, Uganda, and South Africa which are intended to block people…
Pendulum Swing: Treatment Paradigms Come and Go, But the Virus and Its Problematic Potions Appear Intractable
TAGline • 2001Treatment Paradigms Come and Go, But the Virus and Its Problematic Potions Appear Intractable Prairie Fire “Don’t tell me nothin’ about no AIDS because that won’t impact me. And if I was to get it, all I’d have to do is take a pill in the morning and I’ll be OK.” — A 15-year old…
Brazil: What Went Right?
TAGline • 2000The Global Challenge of Access to Treatment and the Issue of Compulsory Licensing By Mark Harrington December 2000 “We have upside down access to AIDS drugs in this world. The drugs are where the disease is not, and the disease is where the drugs are not. Commercial interests come above human suffering.” Peter Mugyenyi Joint…