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Dear Secretary Thompson,
We seek your support in a very important matter. Abbott Laboratories recently instituted a 400% increase in the price of Norvir, a patented drug essential to the treatment of HIV/AIDS. Like other advocacy groups, we believe that Abbott’s actions are irresponsible, harmful to the general public, and represent an anti-competitive use of its patent that hurts those most vulnerable: Americans infected with HIV/AIDS. We therefore ask you to act reasonably, and exercise the Bayh-Dole Act to grant an open license for the six patents related to the production of Norvir to put an end this unfortunate development.
The most common and effective treatment for HIV/AIDS, ‘Highly Active Antiretroviral Treatment’ (HAART), involves a combination of protease inhibitors and a drug that increases their efficacy: Norvir. While there are many different protease inhibitors available, Norvir is the only drug of its kind. As a result of the Norvir price-hike, the prices of protease inhibitor packages—which necessarily include Norvir—have increased as well, while Abbott has maintained the original price of its own protease inhibitor package, Kaletra, making it the least expensive HAART option on the market. This gives patients and insurance companies a compelling reason to switch to Kaletra regardless of whether it is the best treatment for patients, while unlawfully giving Abbott Laboratories increased market share.
Abbott’s differential pricing of Norvir and Kaletra is unreasonable, irresponsible, and anti-competitive. You have the opportunity to put an end to this problem. Since federal money helped to fund the research and development of Norvir, Abbot has a legal obligation to fulfill the goals and requirements of the Bayh-Dole Act. These requirements include reasonable pricing of government-supported inventions, a stipulation that Abbott has clearly violated. When a corporation such as Abbott Laboratories abuses the patent rights of an essential innovation created with the help of the federal government, the government must intervene to protect the public. With this in mind, we ask you to make use of the Bayh-Dole Act to uphold the law and put an end to this unfair practice.
Thank you for your consideration. |
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Student AIDS Watch is student-led AIDS organization dedicated to raising awareness about the pandemic, and focused on engaging both the government and individuals in dialogue on AIDS.
We established the Student AIDS Watch (SAW) coalition in response to an often-lamented problem: while many devoted AIDS groups exist, many have different agendas, and remain unaware of the activities pursued by others. The SAW coalition is your networking tool, whose main purpose is to reach out to college activists from around the country and unite them under a single banner when important national issues need to be addressed. This creates an effective communication tool between groups, while simultaneously allowing member organizations to remain autonomous and practically independant. The cooperation of groups across the United States, Canada, and abroad continues to increase global communication among student groups committed to finding a solution to this devastating global problem, and the continued involvement of individuals and groups, both big and small, is key to achieving this goal. |
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