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    AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power
    ACT UP NEW YORK | ACT UP PHILADELPHIA

    Press Release

    20 FEBRUARY 2001

    Contact: Kate Krauss (718) 857-8886 ; Asia Russell (215) 731-1844

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

    AIDS ACTIVISTS TAKE OVER GLAXOSMITHKLINE INVESTOR RELATIONS OFFICE

    Expose company-wide policy of blocking generic AIDS drug access

    GlaxoSmithKline Investor Relations Office, 499 Park Ave, Btn 58th and 59th St, 21st floor.

    (February 20, 2001) Outraged by GlaxoSmithKline's company-wide policy of thwarting access to affordable generic AIDS drugs in Africa, activists from ACT UP New York, ACT UP Philadelphia, and the Health GAP Coalition took over the giant drugmaker's Manhattan investor relations offices today.

    The activists occupied the office after infiltrating the building. They threw "blood money" and empty pill bottles, chanting "GlaxoSmithKline! GlobalSerialKiller!" Activists used chains to lock down together in the office; there were six arrests.

    "We are here today to expose GlaxoSmithKline's campaign to keep affordable generic medication out of the hands of millions of people with AIDS," said Laura McTighe of ACT UP. GlaxoSmithKline held a meeting with institutional investors last week regarding the company's policies regarding access to medication. Investors are increasingly distraught by Glaxo's public image on the issue of access to affordable drugs, and the impact of their poor image on share price. (See Financial Times, Feb 16 2001, David Pilling.)

    Added ACT UP's Mark Milano, "The company has one priority: its shareholders and its quarterly reports. And when the company announces financial results for 2000 across the world tomorrow, they should include this number: one million people died of AIDS each quarter while the company continued its deadly campaign against generic drug access."

    The company, controlling more than one-third of the HIV antiviral drug market, has been singled out by numerous public health, relief, and charitable agencies such as Oxfam and Doctors Without Borders for their persistent use of stall tactics, litigation, and threats in order to maintain high AIDS drug prices despite the unrelenting global pandemic.

    Said Asia Russell of ACT UP, "As long as Glaxo keeps insisting that patents and prices aren't the real problem, we know that this is only a game to them. Glaxo claims to be taking action to increase global AIDS drug accessóbut the company's own CEO calls their drug access programs ëa drop in the bucket.'"

    Activists cite three primary examples of GlaxoSmithKline's longstanding policy of suppressing lawful generic drug access:

    • In South Africa, GlaxoSmithKline is lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against the South African government over its Medicines Act. This Act would grant the government rights to obtain inexpensive AIDS drugs to treat its citizens. Opening arguments in the case begin March 5th after more than three years of delay in courts. AIDS activists in South Africa have declared an International Day of Solidarity against the lawsuit, and mass demonstrations are planned in several US cities and around the world.

      "Glaxo's lawsuit against South Africa is the most flagrant example of the company's boundless commitment to blocking poor peoples' access to drugs," said Diane Huff of ACT UP. The lawsuit has delayed implementation of the Medicines Act for more than three years. In that time, an estimated 400,000 South Africans died of AIDS.

    • GlaxoSmithKline attacked Cipla, a generic manufacturer in India, threatening legal action against them last year when they imported a generic AIDS drug patented by GlaxoSmithKline to Ghana. Glaxo claimed Cipla violated their patent rights by selling the generic drug. But according to local patent officials, the drug in question could not have been patented by GlaxoSmithKline in Ghana, because the relevant patents were filed before Ghana even had a domestic pharmaceutical patent law. But the threat of litigation from GlaxoSmithKline was enough to stop the flow of drugs to Ghana.

      According to SharonAnn Lynch of ACT UP New York, "Glaxo is deliberately lying about its claim to patent in Ghanaóthey are doing everything they can think of to keep prices as high as possible for as long as possible." The imported drugs are now sitting on shelves in Ghana, unused.

    • Glaxo has consistently used delay tactics to discourage initiatives that would reduce its prices. In May 2000, with a huge amount of publicity, the company announced that it would be providing AIDS drugs at deep discounts to African nations as a member of a five company initiative organized by the World Health Organization. However, these plans amount to treatment for only about 2,500 of the 35 million people now living with AIDS. UNAIDS officials cite drug company unwillingness to negotiate deep price reductions as the prime reason negotiations have moved so slowly. During a recent meeting, JP Garnier, GlaxoSmithKline's Chief Executive, asserted that the existing access programs amounted to only "a drop in the bucket" but announced that the world would have to wait until July 2001 for the company's new access plan.

      "When a company voluntarily admits that they are not doing enough to save lives, but refuses to stop blocking the life saving efforts of others, that is nothing less than mass murder," said Eric Sawyer of ACT UP. Activists view these delay tactics as part of a strategy to string along the international community and to discourage it from protesting Glaxo's high prices.

    ACT UP DEMANDS THAT GLAXOSMITHKLINE:

    • Drop the lawsuit against South Africa
    • Stop bullying Ghana and other developing nations trying to import generic AIDS drugs * Publicly admit that they have no valid claim to patent on Combivir in Ghana * Make their drugs available at cost immediately in poor countries

      More than 1 million people are dying of AIDS around the world every 4 months. Seventy percent are in Sub Saharan Africa. The life expectancy of a person in Sub Saharan Africa after infection is about 6 years.

    NEXT STEPS: International Global Day of Solidarity March 5 2000:

    March 5 is the first day in court for the 40 drug companies suing the South African government over the South African Medicines Act which would legislate broader access to affordable, live extending medication

    For updates about activist protests worldwide on March 5, visit: www.globaltreatmentaccess.org (Health GAP Coalition) and www.tac.org.za (Treatment Action Campaign, South Africa)

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