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Institute for Public Accuracy
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* Cipro Patenting * Civil Liberties
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| WASHINGTON
- October 25 -
ASIA RUSSELL,
asia@critpath.org, www.healthgap.org
Russell is a member of the Health GAP Coalition. She said today: "With the Cipro deal,
Secretary Thompson did not want to set a precedent that could be used against
the U.S. administration at the upcoming WTO meeting, where the issue of
affordable AIDS drugs and patent rights in poor countries will be a major
controversy. If U.S. officials had agreed to license production of generic
ciprofloxacin, all their arguments against patent flexibility in poor countries
seeking generic AIDS drugs would have fallen to pieces -- and Robert Zoellick,
the U.S. Trade Representative, wouldn't tolerate that, no matter how high the
stakes. Thousands die daily from untreated AIDS globally, and Zoellick is
blocking the use of common-sense strategies among poor countries to promote
generic AIDS drug access."
JAMES LOVE,
love@cptech.org, www.cptech.org
Director of the Consumer Project on Technology, Love said: "Thompson says we need
medications for 10 million persons. At the 120-pill recommended course of
treatment for ciprofloxacin, this is 1.2 billion pills. Bayer says it can
produce 2 million per day. At this rate it would take 600 days to supply 1.2
billion pills. The U.S. is now saying it will only provide 10 doses of
ciprofloxacin, and then switch to a cheaper antibiotic.... Apparently five
generic companies have already received U.S. FDA clearance for the quality of
their ciprofloxacin, and could immediately be asked to manufacture the drug.
The U.S. government already has the right to use patents without a license. The
U.S. can clearly address supply issues faster with six suppliers than with one.
The government is cutting corners on public health to protect its negotiating
position in the Doha WTO meeting on November 9-13 -- where the issue of
compulsory licensing of drugs, and imports under a compulsory license where a
country does not have domestic capacity for production, is a central issue,
with the U.S., Canada and the European Union opposing the Africa group.
Americans are being put at risk in order to protect the pharmaceutical
companies doing business in Africa and other developing countries."
SUSAN AKRAM,
sakram@gbls.org,
www.bu.edu/law/faculty/profiles/akram
Author of the law review article "Scheherazade Meets Kafka: Two Dozen Sordid Tales of
Ideological Exclusion," Akram, associate professor at the Boston
University School of Law, has given legal assistance in cases where secret
"evidence" has been used by the government. She said today:
"This entire legislation is premised on the idea that we can get increased
security at the expense of our civil liberties -- that's historically never
been true and it's not true today." For more information: www.aclu.org
NANCY CHANG,
nchang@nyc.rr.com
Senior attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights, Chang said today: "Our commitment to the Bill of Rights and to the democratic values that define this nation is
under challenge. The legislation that the Senate is expected to pass today will
... discourage protest activities, further diminish our already reduced
expectations of privacy under the Fourth Amendment, and strip immigrants of
their fundamental right to freedom from bodily restraint without due process of
law. As constitutional challenges to the legislation wind their way through the
courts, the judiciary will be presented with the choice of upholding the
Constitution or acquiescing in its surrender."
###
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