E-DRUG ABC Transcript -- we are better off if African patients die
This is the transcript of the ABC World News Tonite
show that ran on July 8, 1999. The theme of the
program was that the Zambia government and public
health experts agree that "letting its people die today"
is a positive public health measure, because they
won't misuse drugs leading to drug resistant strains
of HIV/AIDS. According to Peter Jennings:
PETER JENNINGS: The science here is
complicated. Unless the new AIDS drugs are
given under controlled circumstances, not only
might they be ineffective, but there's a danger
that the virus will find a way to overcome them,
and a more potent virus might develop. And any
time there's a new strain, there is, of course,
a danger that it will spread.
Here is the transcipt, which I am posting as a Fair Use
under US copyright law. Jamie
----------------------
SHOW: WORLD NEWS TONIGHT WITH PETER JENNINGS (6:30 pm ET)
JULY 8, 1999
Transcript # 99070805-j04
TYPE: PACKAGE
SECTION: NEWS
LENGTH: 493 words
HEADLINE: A CLOSER LOOK
BYLINE: JACKIE JUDD, PETER JENNINGS
HIGHLIGHT:
AIDS DRUGS TOO EXPENSIVE FOR SOUTH AFRICANS
BODY:
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM
AND MAY BE
UPDATED.
PETER JENNINGS: We're going to take "A Closer Look" tonight at
two countries where the weight of the AIDS virus is such that
they hardly know where to turn. We mean weight in terms of
burden.
(voice-over) Thirty-three million people in the world are
infected with the HIV virus, or AIDS itself. Ninety percent of
them live in Asia and Latin America and Africa.
(on camera) It's a major dilemma. Should the wealthier nations
provide AIDS drugs to those countries that cannot possibly afford
them? We're going to start in South Africa. Here's ABC's Jackie
Judd.
SOUTH AFRICAN WOMAN: Keep that spirit.
JACKIE JUDD, ABC News: (voice-over) Treating the more than three
million AIDS -infected patients in South Africa is a hopeless
endeavor. AZT and the newer AIDS drugs that prolong life cost
between $500 and $1,000 a month. That is not only out of reach of
the average South African, but also the government. Some patients
are not even told the drugs exist.
Dr. DAVE SPENCER, Johannesburg General Hospital: Frustrating. I
mean, what do you say to young people in their 20s, 30s who have
such a limited life expectancy?
JACKIE JUDD: (voice-over) So two years ago, the South African
government decided that morally it had to do something. It
passed a law that would allow cheap, generic versions of the
drugs to be locally produced or imported without permission of
drug companies.
Dr. EDDIE MHLANGA, Government Official: Certainly, we in South
Africa and in the countries that cannot afford these expensive
drugs to say to the rest of the world, "Is it all right that we
cannot afford those drugs and, therefore, you are going to leave
us to die?"
JACKIE JUDD: (voice-over) But the law never went into effect.
Drug companies worldwide, including American firms that produce
AIDS drugs, took South Africa to court. They allege the law
would violate patents, send profits tumbling and stifle expensive
research.
(on camera) The industry also argues -- and many health
professionals agree
--
that cheaper drugs alone are never the answer. The pills need to
be taken in a systematic way. Patients need to be closely
supervised, which the South African medical system cannot
provide.
THOMAS BOMBELLES, PhRMA: Just giving people drugs without the
proper treatment can create drug-resistant strains of HIV. It
can make people sicker, not better. And that threatens AIDS
patients everywhere around the world.
JACKIE JUDD: (voice-over) What happens next depends to some
extent on the outcome of the court case. Even if it should lead
to cheaper drugs, that would only be a small piece of the puzzle.
Ultimately, the international community may have to intervene to
help Africa as a whole come to grips with this overwhelming
crisis. Jackie Judd, ABC News.
-----
SHOW: WORLD NEWS TONIGHT WITH PETER JENNINGS (6:30 pm ET)
JULY 8, 1999
Transcript # 99070806-j04
TYPE: PACKAGE
SECTION: NEWS
LENGTH: 447 words
HEADLINE: ZAMBIA ON THE SIDE OF DRUG COMPANIES
BYLINE: RICHARD GIZBERT, PETER JENNINGS
HIGHLIGHT:
FEAR OF CREATING DRUG-RESISTANT STRAINS OF HIV
BODY:
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM
AND MAY BE
UPDATED.
PETER JENNINGS: The science here is complicated. Unless the new
AIDS drugs are given under controlled circumstances, not only
might they be ineffective, but there's a danger that the virus
will find a way to overcome them, and a more potent virus might
develop. And any time there's a new strain, there is, of
course, a danger that it will spread.
(voice-over) This is a concern they share in Zambia to the north
of South Africa, and ABC's Richard Gizbert is there.
RICHARD GIZBERT, ABC News: (voice-over) These men are HIV-
positive, and they are working in one of Zambia's few growth
industries - coffin-making. AIDS is punishing this country,
too. Two hundred deaths a day.
The newest drugs are hard to get here as well. But even if they
were available, Zambian officials believe it is better to let
someone like Veronica die than to give the drugs without the
proper supervision. Because in Zambia, they agree with the drug
companies, that anything less than a full course of treatment
with the right drugs could result in the HIV virus mutating into
something even more deadly.
ZAMBIAN OFFICIAL: And if you give them these drugs without all
the supportive services we are talking about, we are talking
about making all the types of HIV strains resistant to the drug.
Is this what we want to happen?
RICHARD GIZBERT: (voice-over) The government even raids
unlicensed pharmacies to make sure no one buys the latest drugs
on the black market. What the government cannot stop, however,
is someone like Winston Zulu, who managed for a while to get the
drugs from Europe. But later, at the funeral of a friend --
another victim of AIDS -- he admitted his supply had run out
before he had completed the required course.
WINSTON ZULU: The real risk is that the next time I start, I may
become resistant to one or two, or all of them.
RICHARD GIZBERT: (voice-over) And that is what the government
here is trying to avoid -- someone developing a resistant strain,
passing it on and beginning a new epidemic, which is why Zambia
is letting its people die today so that thousands, maybe even
millions can be saved tomorrow. Richard Gizbert, ABC News.
PETER JENNINGS: Just one final note about the drug companies --
Glaxo Wellcome that makes the AZT drug has cut drug prices to
some African countries. And Bristol-Myers Squibb, the makers of
three of the AIDS drugs, says it is spending $100 million in
Africa on AIDS -related programs.
When we come back, America's team.
(Commercial Break)
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
--
James Love, Director, Consumer Project on Technology
I can be reached at love@cptech.org, by telephone 202.387.8030,
by fax at 202.234.5176. CPT web page is http://www.cptech.org
--
James Love, Director, Consumer Project on Technology
I can be reached at love@cptech.org, by telephone 202.387.8030,
by fax at 202.234.5176. CPT web page is http://www.cptech.org
--
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