|
�
by Justin Gardner
May 21, 2016
from
TheFreeThoughtProject Website
Related report in Spanish
�
�
�
�
In a display of just how far the U.S.
government is willing to go in
protecting Big Pharma,
it was
revealed that a Senate staffer hinted that peace deals in
Colombia could be threatened if the country challenges a patent on
an expensive cancer drug.
�
The controversy centers around a
leukemia drug called
Gleevec, made by Swiss-based Novartis.
Prices have increased 10 percent or more every year, causing
heavy strain on health care systems in middle-income countries such
as Colombia.
�
Novartis, which made $4.7 billion from
Gleevec last year, has enjoyed a patent monopoly on the drug for ten
years. The patent ended on February 1 in the U.S., but will remain
in Colombia until 2018.
�
While a generic version of the
life-saving drug already promises to bring prices down in the U.S.,
Colombia is held hostage by the continuing foreign-based monopoly.
�
The Colombian government announced that
it will give Novartis a few weeks to lower the price on Gleevec
before it uses "compulsory licenses" to let companies make generic
versions.
�
It proposed a price reduction of less
than half the current regulated price, which is still much higher
than what generic versions cost.
�
Novartis refused, instead
turning to its 'friends' in the U.S. government.
"Leaked diplomatic letters sent from
Colombia's Embassy in Washington describe how a staffer with the
Senate Finance Committee, which is led by Sen. Orrin Hatch,
R-Utah, warned of repercussions if Colombia moves forward on
approving the cheaper, generic form of a cancer drug�
�
In the second letter, after a
meeting with Senate Finance Committee International Trade
Counsel Everett Eissenstat, [Andres] Fl�rez wrote that
Eissenstat said that authorizing the generic version would
"violate the intellectual property rights" of Novartis.
�
Eissenstat also said that if,
"the Ministry of Health did not
correct this situation, the pharmaceutical industry in the
United States and related interest groups could become very
vocal and interfere with other interests that Colombia could
have in the United States," according to the letter.
In particular, Fl�rez expressed a
worry that "this case could jeopardize the approval of the
financing of the new initiative �Peace Colombia'."
The initiative could end decades of
bloody fighting and aid in efforts to remove land mines in Colombia,
which is second only to Afghanistan in land mine fatalities.
�
U.S. lawmakers have no problem breaking
patents when it serves their interest, such as the compulsory
licensing granted for night vision goggles, most likely to benefit
the surveillance state. But when it's a matter of life and death in
other countries struggling with health care costs, these politicians
will show their allegiance to the corporatocracy.
�
As
the leaked memos show, American
politicians would even abandon the cause of making peace.
Translation of the letter into English
by Anne-Beatrix Keller-Semadeni:
�
CHANCELLERY
TODOS POR UN
NUEVO PAIS
Embassy of Colombia in the United States
S-EUSWHT-16-870
In Washington, D.C., on April 28, 2016
Dr. Alejandro Gaviria
Minister of Health
Bogot� D.C.
Ref.: GLIVEC - NOVARTIS
Dear Minister,
As announced in the letter I-EUSWHT-16-868 that we sent
yesterday, April 27, staff members of the Embassy and of the
Commercial Office and myself met with Everett Eissenstat, member
of the Senate Finance Committee to discuss the possible
declaration of public interest regarding the issuance of a
compulsory licence on the drug GLIVEC manufactured by the
pharmaceutical company NOVARTIS. It is worth mentioning that Mr.
Eissenstat is the Chief International Trade Counsel for the
republican side of the Finance Committee.
Mr. Eissenstat commented on the discomforts that the
announcement by the Ministry of Health of a possible compulsory
licence on the drug GLIVEC had caused in the United States. Mr.
Eissenstat believes that there are not enough reasons to justify
the legality of a compulsory licence for GLIVEC. Therefore, he
thinks that if that happened, Colombia would violate the
intellectual property rights of the company NOVARTIS, as well
as, among other treaties, the free trade agreement between
Colombia and the United States.
Moreover, Mr. Eissenstat mentioned that although NOVARTIS is not
an American company, the US pharmaceutical industry is very
worried by the fact that such a case might become a precedent
that could be applied for any patent in any industry. This,
according to him, could tarnish Colombia�s reputation regarding
the respect of intellectual property rights and place Colombia
among the countries that would receive a special treatment.
Mr. Eissenstat also mentioned that if the Ministry of Health did
not correct this situation, the pharmaceutical industry in the
United States and related interest groups could become very
vocal and interfere with other interests that Colombia could
have in the United States.
As mentioned in our letter of yesterday, we are concerned that
this case could jeopardize the approval of the financing of the
new initiative �Paz Colombia�. We also worry of the potential of
a dispute with the parties affected in light of the provisions
of the free trade agreement.
We are waiting for decisions and instructions in this case.
Yours faithfully,
/signed/
Andr�s Fl�rez
Deputy Chief of Mission
�
Naturally, a spokesperson for Sen.
Orrin Hatch
feigned ignorance, pretending that they can't possibly have any
influence over the Peace Colombia initiative.
�
According to Julia Lawless, the
Senate Finance Committee,
"has no jurisdiction over the Paz
Colombia initiative and it was not discussed."
The suggestion that Hatch and his
cohorts would not do the bidding of Novartis is absurd, considering
the
ties to Big Pharma�as reported by the Intercept.
"Hatch has close ties to the
pharmaceutical industry. Pharmaceutical and health product
manufacturers form the second-largest pool of donors to his
campaigns.
�
The industry's main trade
association, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of
America, spent $750,000 funding an outside nonprofit that backed
Hatch's re-election in 2012.
�
The lobbying group also employed
Scott Hatch, one of the senator's sons, as a lobbyist, while
donating to his family charity, the Utah Families Foundation."
According to
Public Citizen, about a
dozen countries have used compulsory licenses, mostly for HIV and
cancer treatments.
�
Novartis and its allies in Congress are
worried that Colombia might set a precedent for others to challenge
patent monopolies.
"The
pressure against Colombia is bogus but it's real," said
Andrew Goldman, a counsel for Knowledge Ecology International,
the Washington-based group that first obtained the embassy
memos.
�
"We always assume that this kind of
intervention is happening behind the scenes but rarely do you
get the chance to see it up close."
While everyone has a right to profit
from their original product, using the power of the state to
preserve a monopoly allows corporations to act outside of market
forces and charge extraordinary prices, with poorer regions
suffering the most.
�
This collusion also lends to the broken
system of politics that characterizes Washington, where the thirst
for money and power has rendered voting meaningless...
�
�
� |
