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- March and Press Conference from Bristol-Myers Squibb (15th and F St. NW) to White House (Penn. Ave side)
- ARRESTS EXPECTED
- Health GAP Coalition to Release White Paper
- Nobel Laureate from Doctors Without Borders Announces Global Campaign against Bristol-Myers Squibb
- Trail of Blood-Soaked Dollars from BMS to White House
- Gospel Choir brings "Golden Urn Award" to Clinton in Funeral Procession

(Washington DC) ACT UP Philadelphia will bring 600 people to the nation's capitol on the eve of World AIDS Day as part of a global day of actions demanding access to life-saving medication. At the WTO Ministerial in Seattle, President Clinton and his appointee, US Trade Representative (USTR) Charlene Barshefsky, are leading opposition to proposals from developing countries to exempt "Essential Medicines" from a patent system that gives monopoly rights to pharmaceutical manufacturers.

Around the world on November 30 & December 1 (including Cape Town and Johannesburg, San Francisco, New York City, Paris, and Seattle), thousands of activists ranging from ACT UP & the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission to South Africa's Treatment Action Campaign and the Nobel prize-winning Doctors Without Borders will organize events calling attention to the complicity of large drug companies and the U.S. Government in obstructing access to life saving medicines.

The theme for World AIDS Day 1999 is "Listen, Learn, Live: World AIDS Campaign with Children and Young People." 1/3 of the estimated 33 million people living with HIV at the end of last year were young people between 15 and 24. Fully half of all new HIV infections occur in this age group. Nine out of 10 of these young people live in developing nations with no access to the life-saving therapies that have drastically reduced the AIDS death rate in the US. (WHO)

"International human rights laws indicate that access to HIV and AIDS treatments is a human right," said Paul Davis of ACT UP.

"This Administration's policies ignore human rights and prioritize profits over lives. On World AIDS Day at the end of the millennium, President Clinton has the blood of millions on his hands. We are saddened and ashamed that the president of the wealthiest nation in the world is so deserving of the Golden Funeral Urn we are Œawarding' him today."

Tuesday's rally in Washington DC features the release of the international Health GAP Coalition's Œwhite paper,' detailing systematic reforms that will save millions of lives at almost no cost to taxpayers or pharmaceutical companies. The paper will include case studies of US interference with treatment access in South Africa, Thailand and other nations; and documentation of Clinton officials placing drug company concerns over public health and international trade agreements in bilateral and WTO negotiations.

On the way to the White House, the marchers will stop at the DC offices of Bristol-Meyers Squibb. Physician Larry Egbert, representing Doctors Without Borders and the Baltimore chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility will speak to the struggle with BMS in Thailand. The company and the USTR have pressured the Thai Government to cease Œgeneric' production of ddI, an important anti-HIV drug researched and developed almost entirely at US taxpayer expense. Although the patent is held by HHS Secretary Donna Shalala (Patent US 4861759, US 5616566), ddI was licensed to BMS. Thailand's generic production of ddI was well within the limits proscribed by the WTO's intellectual property agreements.

This month, under pressure from people with AIDS and Doctors Without Borders, the Thai government filed suit against BMS for strong-arming a patent extension on ddI.

"The Bristol-Myers CEO took home $147 million in one year alone. They give $100 million to five African nations in a controversial move called ŒSecure the Future.' That PR sham will not provide a single pill and was opposed by public health officials in several countries." explained Lee Scott of ACT UP. "Yet, our government helps Bristol block generic production of ddI, an AIDS drug, and taxol, a cancer drug, in Thailand, at taxpayer's expense." South Africa's Treatment Action Campaign has referred to the BMS public relations move as "Secure our profits, spoil our future."

ACT UP will then leave a trail of blood soaked dollars from BMS to the White House in a march leaving visual evidence of big business and Clinton Administration collaboration on restricting AIDS drug access through US trade policy and WTO regulations.

Health GAP Coalition speakers will offer news from Seattle on US opposition to proposals from a number of poor countries to increase access to treatment. The WTO Ministerial issues a declaration which forms the basis for upcoming years of WTO negotiations. A number of countries led by Venezuela and Kenya are submitting revisions to the Ministerial Declaration. These countries seek to exempt the World Health Organization's list of essential medicines from patentability for "developing [and] least developed trading partners." [proposal texts: www.iatp.org/trade/library/admin/uploadedfiles/Second_Draft_of_WTO_Chairmans_Ministerial_Text.htm € WHO Essential Medicines: www.who.int/dmp/Model List/edl-10.htm]

After a report was leaked from Geneva about "Green Room" negotiations which confirmed suspicions that the US would oppose these resolutions, ACT UP Philadelphia and New York occupied the USTR office of ambassador Barshefsky on Nov. 18 in protest. The activists chained themselves in Barshefsky's office and outside balcony, with a banner saying "Medication for Every Nation." For the past year, US activists have opposed US efforts to prohibit compulsory licensing (off-patent production) and parallel importing (purchasing through a third party country) of pharmaceuticals. After confrontations with Gore on the campaign trail, including protests involving thousands in DC and Philadelphia, the Clinton administration reversed its position on the South African law which authorized these measures [announcement: http://www.ustr.gov/releases/1999/09/99-76.html]. However, the new agreement would not be applied to other struggling nations, according to Clinton's top AIDS advisor Sandy Thurman; activists are demanding that the agreement with South Africa be extended to all poor countries in need of essential medications.

In a letter to Al Gore, Mazibuko K. Jara, from South Africa's Treatment Action Campaign stated: "We find it shocking that the US government is adopting such an aggressive stance when sub-Saharan Africa is confronted with a public health crisis of such enormous proportions. Last year, two million Africans died of AIDS. This year at least two million more will die. We believe the response of the United States to this emergency should be to support efforts of governments in developing countries to access affordable HIV/AIDS drugs." "Under pressure, Al Gore finally did the right thing for South Africa," said ACT UP's John Bell. "But his withdrawal from the stage has meant that we have one agreement with South Africa while millions in Thailand, Brazil and India are still being bullied by the US Government. The US must cease interference with these efforts to get lifesaving drugs to people with HIV."

"If it becomes apparent that the Clinton/Gore Administration uses the WTO meeting to undermine its agreement with South Africa, Candidate Gore can be assured he will begin hearing from us again on his campaign stops," pledged Bell.

The Health GAP Coalition is a growing organizations started by Alan Berkman, M.D., a New York physician who treats low-income persons with AIDS, with help from members of ACT UP/New York, ACT UP/Philadelphia, Search for a Cure (in Boston), Ralph Nader's Consumer Project on Technology, AIDS Treatment News, IGLHRC, AIDS Treatment Data Network and many others.

The Health GAP Coalition Members to Contact for Background:
ACT UP Paris: 01.48.06.13.89
The Consumer Project on Technology: 202.387.8030 € www.cptech.org (many resources online for background).
IGLHRC: 415.255.8680 € www.iglhrc.org (many background docs)
Treatment Action Campaign: 011-403 0265 € www.hri.ca/partners/alp/tac/
ACT UP Philadelphia: 215.731.1844
ACT UP Demands:

- USTR and other relevant departments must cease all actions interfering with efforts by poor countries to increase access to essential medicines. The announced terms of Vice President Gore's arrangement with South Africa must become US global trade policy.

- USTR must support, rather than oppose, the campaign of poor nations, including Venezuela, Kenya, and Pakistan, to revise the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) agreement to exempt essential medicines from the patent system.

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