UAEM Express – New patent pool negotiations, IAS 2011, MSF “Revising TRIPS” contest
Several items of interest from the past week:
- 6th International Aids Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention
IAS 2011 was held in Rome this week, details at http://ias2011.org. A few highlights:
- “Science without activism is evidence with action” - Speech by UNAIDS Director Michel Sidibé on the need for universal access to ARVs.
- Video of interviews and events on the IAS 2011 YouTube channel.
- MSF Italy has some good interviews with HIV activists on their YouTube channel.
- Science Speaks live-blogged the conference and has coverage of the proceedings.
Momentum from the Gilead agreement as the Medicines Patent Pool has begun negotiations with Boehringer-Ingelheim and Bristol-Myers Squibb for patents on HIV medicines essential to treating people living with HIV in the developing world.
- HIV and AIDS: bad news for drug prices in middle-income countries - The Guardian
Middle-income countries with large numbers of people living with HIV such as Brazil, China, India and Thailand will no longer benefit from preferential pricing when buying ARVs from large pharmaceutical companies.
- Capreomycin shortage: symptom of a bigger problem in multidrug-resistant tuberculosis - Speaking of Medicine, PLoS Medicine Community Blog
Treatment of MDR-TB is being threatened by rising drug prices, quality concerns and supply problems. ”There is an urgent need to develop novel funding mechanisms to incentivise new manufacturers to enter, and to retain current manufacturers’ engagement, in the global TB market, to ensure uninterrupted supply of quality assured medicines.” By Grania Bridgen, TB advisor to MSF Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines.
- Revising TRIPS for Public Health: An Ideas Contest from MSF - MSF Campaign for Essential Medicines
The question: Can TRIPS be reformed to meet public health needs? The answer: Can come in the form of a 500-1000 word essay, or an audio visual entry. The winners will be invited to Geneva to present their ideas at MSF’s Doha +10 Conference in November. Organization is beginning on a UAEM entry, contact info@ubc-uaem.org to get involved!
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“We need to tell the leaders of the world, ‘If you deliver the 15 million you promise by 2015 on antiretroviral therapy in the south of the world, the curves are going to bend dramatically. We’re going to see a dramatic change in the course of the epidemic.’ We are at a point where we can start talking about the end of AIDS.”
- Dr. Julio Montaner, interviewed this week at IAS 2011 (http://youtu.be/m_XH7RK_qkI)
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