NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #31/NN_1992_31.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/9532

Text File | 1992-12-21 | 5.1 KB | 88 lines

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From: New Liberation News Service <[e-mail]>
Subject: NLNS: Corporate Greed & AIDS
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Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1992 15:32:22 GMT
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ASTRA: Corporate Greed Rears its Ugly Head
Tavis Barr, Left Turn

(NLNS)--In the dog-eat-dog health care system of the United states, getting
medical treatment for AIDS is not as simple as taking the best drugs and
hoping for a cure.  It is an economically devastating experience which
leaves many people homeless, and most scrambling from one under-funded
state program to another, hoping to squeeze out a few dollars when they
can.  Leave aside the fact that many people with AIDS are unable to work,
and only receive minimal welfare payments to sustain themselves, or the
fact that many people with AIDS are poor to begin with.  The latest AIDS
drugs cost enough to ruin the bank accounts of most wealthy people.
    In the hope of publicizing some of the more outrageous drug prices,
the AIDS-rights movement has been taking direct action against Astra
Pharmaceuticals in Westboro, Massachusetts, which produces a drug called
Foscarnet (aka Foscavir).  Foscarnet treats CMV Retinitis, an
opportunistic infection afflicting about 45% of all people with AIDS.
Basically, when you get CMV, you lose your vision, then your hearing,
and die within a year or two.  Foscarnet is one of only two treatment
options, and the only option for the 40% of all CMV victims who cannot
take the other CMV drug, gancyclovir.
    Astra, for starters, withheld Foscarnet from the market for two years
after it had proven successful in clinical trials.  Companies cannot charge for
AIDS drugs which have not been approved by the FDA, and although Astra
was reaping profits from overseas sales of Foscarnet, it could not seem to
produce enough to release for so-called "compassionate use" in the United
States.
    As many AIDS activists expected, Astra suddenly found enough to
sell when they were given FDA approval.  What we didn't really expect was
the price tag.  The drug was marketed at $21,000 per year, and that price
has since moved up to $24,000.  According to TAG (Treatment Activist
Guerillas), the price may actually be closer to $30,000 for many people.
While Astra has claimed that they need this price to cover costs, they have
very little evidence to support this.  They claim direct costs of over $100
million in developing Foscarnet, but according to the Wall Street Journal,
"Total spending on all tests of the drug in the
U.S. since 1987 probably adds up to less than $15 million, at least two-
thirds of which came from the federal
government."  According to Clyde Crumpacker, an AIDS researcher at Beth
Israel Hospital in Boston, "It's really very simple.  Next to lithium, this is
the simplest drug ever approved by the FDA."  The chemical on which
Foscavir is based was discovered in 1924, and its anti-viral effects have
been known for over a decade.
    ACT-UP and TAG have targeted Astra in several different actions.
They staged an "eye-in" at the Astra headquarters, during which they threw
ping-pong balls painted as eyes at employees leaving the parking lot.  They
even shut down the facility for a short while by chaining themselves to the
bottoms of trucks blocking access to the building.  At the International
AIDS Conference in Amsterdam, they threw the ashes of a man who could
not get Foscarnet all over the Astra booth.  They have also called for a
boycott of other Astra products, including an anesthetic commonly used by
dentists named xylocaine.
    Unfortunately, while the Boycott may have some effect, none of
these actions is likely to change Astra's pricing scheme significantly.
Companies will try to maximize profits at any cost, including massive bad
publicity.  Many unionists learned this lesson the hard way from the failure
of "corporate campaigning" in the 1980s.  Even if Astra did cut their price in
half, the $21,000 per year price is more the rule than the exception.
Foscarnet at $10,000 per year would still be cheaper than the most common
AIDS drug, AZT.
    The only change that will make the lives of people living with AIDS
significantly more tolerable is the introduction of a nationalized health care
system.  As long as companies need to compete to invent new drugs, they
cannot share the information needed to develop those drugs in a timely
manner; and as long as their main motive it to maximize profits, they will
not make AIDS drugs affordable.  Nevertheless, a victory against Astra
would give the AIDS-rights movement some clout in making demands on
other stubborn companies, such as Burroughs-Wellcome, which is refusing
to continue several crucial tests on a drug called acyclovir.  If you're up to
it, you can call Astra at [phone], and give them Hell.

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