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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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Poor Nations Pick Up Tab as Obama Woos Big Pharma

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(Newser) – The Obama administration is thwarting poor countries' access to affordable drugs in order to win Big Pharma's support for health care reform, according to Doctors Without Borders and other NGOs. As the Los Angeles Times reports, governments from Asia to Latin America are feeling pressure from Washington on their use of generics, even on treatments for HIV/AIDS. "It's appalling coming as it does from the Obama White House," says one activist.

While drug companies can obtain patents to prevent cheaper knockoffs, international treaties allow governments to override patents to increase access to critical medicines. Yet last spring US trade representatives lashed out at poor countries for violating patents, and some countries are already buckling; Guatemala, for one, is now paying market price for AIDS drugs. "We had hoped for change" from Bush policies, said a Doctors Without Borders worker. "However, we now view the Obama administration as no different."

A Brazilian customs worker prepares boxes of the generic HIV medicine Efavirenz.
A Brazilian customs worker prepares boxes of the generic HIV medicine Efavirenz.   (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
A nurse prepares a swine flu vaccine in Australia.
A nurse prepares a swine flu vaccine in Australia.   (AP Photo/CSL, Michael Laurie)
President Barack Obama speaks about health care reform during a town hall meeting in Belgrade, Mont., Friday, Aug. 14, 2009.
President Barack Obama speaks about health care reform during a town hall meeting in Belgrade, Mont., Friday, Aug. 14, 2009.   (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
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The substance of these reports read as if they were written by a lobbyist for the pharmaceutical industry. - James Love of Knowledge Ecology International, after a State Department meeting on affordable drugs

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18 comments
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John
Aug 20, 09 8:45 AM CDT
Pig Pharma will make their money no matter what!! Even on the backs of the world's poorest countries. Reply
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+5
IN RESPONSE:
Fondue
Aug 20, 09 9:22 AM CDT
Well said and absolutely true.
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+1
IN RESPONSE:
UrUndertaker
Aug 20, 09 1:03 PM CDT
The US has subsidized the damn program picking up the lions share of costs so each tax payer has been paying for medication used in poor countries. I think it is time we take care of Americans first then worry about other countries. Let China since they are so keen on Human rights worry about Africa a few years and let us deal with the very real problems of Americans first.
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0
IN RESPONSE:
prowlerzee
Aug 20, 09 6:19 PM CDT
Hahaha! You OBOTS are so funny, blaming Big Pharma when it's YOUR OMESSIAH doing their bidding, OWN UP.
Vote up! Vote down!
-1
IN RESPONSE:
prowlerzee
Aug 20, 09 6:35 PM CDT
"We had hoped for change" from Bush policies, said a Doctors Without Borders worker. "However, we now view the Obama administration as no different." DUH. SOME OF US TOLD YOU SO.
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