E-drug: Dep of State NGO meeting on Int HIV/AIDS initiative
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Department of State NGO meeting on International HIV/AIDS initiative --
Intellectual Property rights off limits to NGOs
The attached letter from Ralph Nader and James Love to Secretary of State
Madeline Albright expresses dismay over a February 18, 1999 State Department
meeting with NGO's on the U.S. Diplomatic Initiative on International
HIV/AIDS. The Department of State told the NGOs they could not talk about
intellectual
property right issues, one day after the Department of State meet with the
Pharmacuetical Industry to discuss compulsory licensing of HIV/AIDS drugs.
Jamie
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Ralph Nader
P.O. Box 19312, Washington, DC 20036
James Love
Consumer Project on Technology
P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036
http://www.cptech.org , 202.387.8030; love@cptech.org
February 18, 1999
Secretary Madeleine Albright
Department of State, 2201 C St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20520
(202) 647-4000, FAX: (202) 647-7120
E-mail: secretary@state.gov
Re: US State Department briefing on US Diplomatic Initiative on HIV/AIDS
Dear Secretary Albright:
We are writing to express our dismay over the U.S. State Department February
18, 1999 "Meeting with NGO community on U.S. Diplomatic Initiative on
International HIV/AIDS." In particular, we strongly object to the decision
by Nancy Carter-Foster to ban NGO discussions of intellectual property
issues as they relate to the new U.S. Diplomatic Initiative on HIV/AIDS, and
her insistence that the Consumer Project on Technology (CPT) not even be
permitted to distribute literature about international HIV/intellectual
property right disputes.
What is particularly galling about today's incident is that Ms Carter-Foster
chaired a similar briefing for the pharmaceutical industry just yesterday,
and the issue of compulsory licensing of AIDS drugs was one of five items on the
agenda. We are attaching both agendas. For the February 17, 1999 meeting,
item four is "Automatic patenting for AIDS drugs." This item was not
included in the NGO meeting agenda, and NGO participants were not permitted
to even discuss the topic.
We found out about the industry meeting through a bureaucratic snafu. At
the close of work on Monday, the 15th, Ms Nancy Carter-Foster sent a fax to
CPT saying "We would like to keep you apprised of our progress to date and
to involve you in the launch and implementation of the diplomatic initiative,"
inviting us to the February 17 meeting. CPT replied and indicated James
Love would attend. We were then faxed an agenda that included the
"automatic patenting" issue.
Apparently CPT was invited as a consequence of having submitted November 6,
1998 comments to the Department of State. These comments specifically
addressed compulsory licensing of AIDS drugs in Thailand and other
countries, and CPT asked that intellectual property issues be addressed in
the International
HIV/AIDS document.
When Mr. Love attended yesterday's February 17 meeting, he advised Ms
Carter-Foster that he worked for a consumer group, noted that the agenda
indicated this was an industry meeting, and asked if a mistake had been made
regarding the invitation. Ms Carter-Foster said that yes there had been a
mistake and that Mr. Love should leave and return the next day for the
meeting with non-industry NGOs. Before leaving, Mr. Love asked about the
"automatic licensing" item, and was told the agenda item concerned
compulsory licensing of AIDS drugs, and specifically a meeting that CPT,
M�decins Sans Fronti�res (MSF) and Health Action International (HAI) were
hosting in Geneva on March 26, 1999 to discuss compulsory licensing of
essential medicines. Since Mr. Love was in fact one of the organizers of the
March 26 Geneva meeting, there was a brief discussion about the meeting
before his departure.
When Mr. Love returned to his office he contacted Ms Carter-Foster's staff
to make sure he was cleared for the meeting on the 18th, and he asked if the
compulsory licensing issue was on the agenda for the NGO briefing. It was
not. Mr. Love requested that the compulsory licensing topic be added, noting
that it was an agenda item for the Industry briefing, that compulsory
licensing of AIDS drugs was the main subject of CPT's November 6, 1998
comments on the International initiative, and that the U.S. was actively
engaged in disputes about compulsory licensing in developing countries.
When today's meeting began, Ms. Carter-Foster distributed a three item
agenda that did not include compulsory licensing. Ms. Carter-Foster
indicated she would permit a five minute discussion of this topic at the
conclusion of the meeting. About 50 minutes into the meeting, Ms
Carter-Foster asked the attendees to describe their work with international
NGOs and other foreign
governments. Mr. Love began to describe his work with public health groups
and other NGOs and governments in several developing counties on matters
concerning intellectual property. He expressed frankly the concerns among
public health groups that US State Department staff were often poorly
informed on
intellectual property disputes, and that the Department of State was widely
perceived to have become an unseemly advocate for the interests of the
pharmaceutical industry.
Ms Carter-Foster interrupted Mr. Love and indicated that matters concerning
intellectual property rights would not be discussed in the meeting, and that
Mr. Love would not be permitted to criticize US policy during the meeting.
Mr. Love
asked to distribute a September 1998 article from the Nation, an English
language Thai newspaper, about a trade dispute between the US and Thailand
over the compulsory licensing of ddI, an HIV drug invented by the United
State government and marketed on an exclusive basis by Bristol-Myers Squibb
(BMS), and BMS and Pfizer drugs used to treat cryptocolcal meningitis, "a
fungal infection
of the brain that affects 15 to 20 percent of the estimated 900,000
HIV-infected people in Thailand." Ms Carter-Foster interrupted Mr. Love,
told him he could not discuss the matter, and could not distribute the article.
Finally, at the end of the hour and a half meeting, an astonishingly
patronizing Ms Carter-Foster said that Mr. Love would have three minutes to
talk, but that he could not criticize U.S. policy, mention specific
disputes, or pass out any
literature. Under those constraints, Mr. Love mentioned that policies
regarding intellectual property rights were highly relevant to access to
HIV/AIDS drugs in developing countries, that this was a major issue with
governments around the world, and that the US government was very active in
these disputes. Mr. Love said citizen of the United States have a right to
ask the government to (1) state what US policies on intellectual property
rights are (2), provide the documents and analysis that justify those
policies, and (3) to discuss these polices with public health groups.
Clearly American citizens have a right to know what our policies are on
these topics, and we do not accept the notion that the Department of State
will only consult with the pharmaceutical companies on these important issues.
We ask that you provide a second NGO briefing to specifically discuss U.S.
policies on intellectual property and access to HIV/AIDS drugs in developing
countries. Furthermore, we ask that such a meeting be held with adequate
notice. As indicated above, CPT received less than 48 hours notice of the
meeting on the 17th. Moreover, the short notice prevented others from
attending. For example, on the 16th, less than a day after we heard about
the meeting, Mr. Eric Sawyer, a New York City AIDS activist, contacted the
Department of State asking for clearance to attend the NGO meeting on the
18th. His clearance was not approved until 11 am today, about two hours
before the meeting. As a consequence of the short notice, Mr. Sawyer, who
lives in
New York, could not attend.
We look forward to your undelegated response so that your views about this
important matter are conveyed directly to us and the public.
Sincerely,
Ralph Nader James Love
--
James Love, Consumer Project on Technology
P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036
202.387.8030; f 202.234.5176
http://www.cptech.org, mailto:love@cptech.org
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