Robert Weissman: Big Pharma Digs In
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Richard Moore
May 26, 2008, 5:59:53 AM5/26/08
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Big Pharma Digs In
robert weissman r...@essential.org
Thu, 01 May 2008 13:30:54 -0400
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Big Pharma Digs In
By Robert Weissman
May 1, 2008
The nations of the world are currently debating how to design new
medical research and development (R&D) mechanisms to serve the twin
goals of promoting innovation to meet the particular needs of developing
countries and ensuring that important medicines are accessible to people
in the developing world, regardless of their income.
A successful conclusion to ongoing negotiations at the World Health
Organization (WHO) -- scheduled to conclude at the end of this week --
could yield dramatic public health benefits in the years and decades
ahead. Long-ignored research needs of poor countries might be addressed.
Important new products might become affordable for all patients, not
just those who live in rich countries or happen to be wealthy. New
collaborative systems of conducting R&D might yield scientific
breakthroughs for emerging public health threats that might otherwise be
delayed, or never occur.
Big Pharma is watching the WHO talks with trepidation. The brand-name
pharmaceutical companies are open to new government resources being
invested to find treatments for diseases endemic to developing countries
-- this represents a new business opportunity, after all. But they fear
losing their pricing prerogatives, including to charge exorbitant rich
country prices in middle-income countries. The companies are also very
concerned that new R&D mechanisms may displace the global
patent-monopoly system around which they have built their business
models -- and which enable them to earn enormous profits.
In an effort to direct the WHO negotiations away from bolder measures
that would advance public health objectives but might threaten its
parochial interests, the industry is deploying the diverse set of
instruments in its policy-influencing toolbox.
Predictably, Big Pharma is heavily influencing the positions of rich
country governments in the WHO talks. Recent reports indicate
disappointing intransigence from the United States, the European Union
and Japan -- a shift from earlier negotiating rounds.
Industry finagling managed to get the Biotechnology Industry
Organization, the U.S. biotech trade association, designated as
"experts" for the WHO negotiations -- a designation that gives BIO
representatives seats in the WHO negotiating room.
The global pharmaceutical industry confederation -- the International
Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) --
has filled the corridors outside the talks with lobbyists. IFPMA has 59
persons officially registered to participate in the meeting.
More insidiously, the industry's funded patient group and think tank
allies have waged a propaganda campaign to discredit the WHO initiative
-- without revealing their financial entanglements with the industry.
An entity called Patients and Patents has circulated a "Patient
Declaration on Medical Innovation and Access." This declaration insists
on the importance of patient group involvement in WHO negotiations
before "recommending changes to international patent protection (IPP)."
Patients and Patents is governed by a seven-member advisory board. Six
of the seven members of the advisory board are linked to the brand-name
pharmaceutical industry, either directly as an individual or through
their primary organization, and the seventh member has at least a weak
tie to the industry.
One member of the governing advisory board, for example, is Durhane
Wong-Rieger. Wong-Rieger is chair of the Consumer Advocare Network,
which is funded by Canada's pharmaceutical industry trade association
Rx&D. Wong-Reiger is also president of the Canadian Organization for
Rare Disorders, which is funded by Actelion Pharmaceuticals, Amicus
Therapeutics, Apo Pharma, BioMarin Pharmaceutical, BIOTECanada,
Debiovision, Genzyme Canada, Hoffmann-LaRoche (Roche), Merck Frosst
Canada, Neurochem, Novartis, Orfagen, Ortho Biotech, Pfizer, Rare
Disease Therapeutics, Shire Human Genetics Therapies, Sigma-Tau
Pharmaceuticals and YM Biosciences.
A high proportion of the signers of the Patient Declaration are also
connected to the brand-name pharmaceutical industry. A review by
Essential Action (an organization I direct) found 61 of 110 of the
signers of the Declaration have industry ties.
A global network of industry-affiliated -- and frequently
industry-funded -- libertarian think tanks have placed misleading op-eds
in news outlets around the globe, denouncing the WHO negotiations. The
authors do not disclose their industry ties.
Tim Wilson, for example, placed op-eds in the Business Standard (India)
and in the Times of India, arguing that the WHO talks would undermine
innovation and hurt people in developing countries. These articles
identified him as affiliated with the Institute of Public Affairs in
Melbourne, Australia. They did not note that at least half of Institute
of Public Affairs' board of directors is comprised of individuals with
financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.
Other op-eds by industry-allied think tanks and academics have appeared
in recent days in Malawi, Rwanda and Colombia. These followed a series
of op-eds by industry-connected nonprofits and academics in the United
States over the previous month. The U.S. op-eds focused on Thailand's
issuance of compulsory licenses -- government authorizations of generic
competition for products that remain on patent -- to make cancer, heart
disease and HIV/AIDS drugs available to poor people in Thailand.
Big Pharma's effort to curtail or contain the WHO negotiations on
medicine innovation and access is a comprehensive one. The industry is
not at all shy about exercising its political power, and it is doing so.
But Pharma execs also know that the industry suffers from enormous
public relations problems that undermine its influence. Industry-funded
or -connected organizations that trot out to propagate Big Pharma's
myths and deceptions can be far more effective in muddying policy debates.
As the WHO talks began this week, Dr. Christophe Fournier, president of
the International Council of Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without
Borders, said, “This week is not just about countries signing checks.
It’s about changing the rules of medical innovation -- coming up with
new proposals that ensure the drugs we need are developed and are made
affordable. But with so many vested interests involved, will governments
be bold enough to take that step?"
Thanks to Big Pharma's multi-faceted pressure campaign, that remains an
open question.
Robert Weissman is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Multinational
Monitor, <http://www.multinationalmonitor.org> and director of Essential
Action <http://www.essentialaction.org>, which is advocating for a
successful conclusion to the WHO talks.
(c) Robert Weissman
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