Health GAP Press Statement
www.globaltreatmentaccess.org | www.healthgap.org

The AIDS activist organization Health GAP responded with criticism today to the announcement of Randall ("Randy") Tobias as head of the Bush AIDS program. Tobias is the recently retired CEO of the U.S. pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly, a corporation with close ties to the Republican party and the Bush Administration.

Announcements of the Emergency Program for AIDS Response have indicated that the plan calls for use of affordable generic medicines, utilizing triple combinations of antiviral drugs available at $300 or less per person, per year. This price is currently only available through generic manufacturers. Even with the price reductions offered by branded pharmaceuticals to some sectors of some developing countries, no combinations of brand name antiretrovirals approach the $300 target.

Activists believe that the retired drug company executive will have difficulty making good on this promise. "40 million people with AIDS facing death without access to affordable treatment need an experienced public health expert to direct this program," said Eustacia Smith of Health GAP. "Tobias will have tough questions to answer about his independence and about whether the Bush AIDS Plan will make efficient use of funds by maximizing purchases of affordable generic medicines. In this administration, there is no firewall between important public health policy decisions like this one, and the conflicting commercial interests of political appointees."

Bush's five-year AIDS plan has come under attack for sidestepping the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, a multilateral program that is already operating and functional. The Global Fund is facing an immediate fiscal shortfall of $700 million in 2003 alone, because the U.S. and other donors have not committed their fair share.

"Purchase of lowest cost medicines, including generics, is a must," said Asia Russell of Health GAP. "The pharmaceutical industry calls that piracy. The heads of state of every other nation in the world have agreed at the WTO that public health and access to medicines for all takes precedence over drug company monopolies. Which side will Tobias be on?"

Activists also criticized the fact that the White House has not released clinical or programmatic details about the Bush AIDS Plan, which is already 6 months old. "1.5 million people have died of AIDS since Bush's announcement, and instead of a plan, the White House makes a political appointment." said Brook Baker of Health GAP. "The clock is ticking--a detailed plan setting out how the White House expects to achieve the clinical goals of its AIDS program is long overdue."

Bush's trade agenda has focused on increasing patent rights for drug companies, even in poor countries, where patent monopolies result in higher cost and decreased access. The emerging free trade agreement between the U.S. and the Southern African Customs Union, for example, would inhibit access to low cost generic versions of important patented medicines. In Nigeria and Uganda the U.S. has pressured local officials to enact national patent policies that exceed the strict rules of the WTO and would restrict countries' rights to break patent monopolies to reduce medicines cost.

Eli Lilly is also a top Republican party donor: Lilly contributed more than $1.5 million to Republican campaigns during the 2002 election cycle, and spent $234,000 in mailings to shareholders on behalf of Bush's campaign in 2000. Lilly recently collaborated with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) and other key Republicans to insert a rider in the eleventh hour to the Homeland Security Bill that would give the drugmaker immunity from families suing Lilly with charges its vaccines causes autism. Outcry over the rider resulted in its repeal in February 2003.

Health GAP demands Randy Tobias:

* Publicly support an increased funding from the US for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria to the U.S. fair share--at least $1 billion in 2004,increasing to at least $2 billion in 2005. The success of the Bush AIDS Plan depends on the success of the Global Fund;

* Publicly support procurement of low-cost generics, and sourcing generics through multiple suppliers as a principle of the Bush AIDS Plan;

* Quickly appoint senior public health experts with experience providing HIV care, treatment, and prevention in African and the Caribbean to leadership positions in the program. These demands will figure prominently during Randy Tobias' Senate Confirmation hearings; if he is unable to meet these basic demands, the Senate should oppose his confirmation.

Health GAP demands the White House:

* Produce a detailed program in one month describing country-by-country plans to scale up access to prevention, care and treatment in the 14 countries covered by the Bush AIDS Plan;

* End efforts blocking poor countries' access to exported or locally produced generic medicines.

* Support, as a minimum, appropriation of full funding for HR 1298, which in 2004 would provide $3 billion to the fight against AIDS, including $1 billion for the Global Fund.

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