Hand in Hand With US Government, Big Pharma Pushes for More Profits
Tuesday, 29 April 2014 09:53
By Mara Kardas-Nelson, Truthout
In January of this year, South African Minister of Health Aaron Motsoaledi cried foul: he was publicly pissed about a US-created astroturf campaign (a faux "grassroots movement" actually led by moneyed interests) meant to undermine the country's efforts to lower drug prices through amending its intellectual property (IP) legislation.
Labeling the plot as being of "satanic magnitude" and tantamount to "genocide," Motsoaledi slammed the creators of the campaign, a veritable who's who of pharmaceutical companies and conservative, pro-business groups. The tripartite alliance responsible for the plot consisted of Public Affairs Engagement (PAE), a DC-based PR firm headed by US Ambassador James Glassman, formerly the undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs in the George W. Bush administration; the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA, one of the most powerful drug industry bodies on the planet; and a local pharmaceutical body, Innovative Pharmaceutical Association of South Africa (IPASA).
The draft South African policy that the groups sought to undermine seeks to more strictly define how patents should be given, what is patentable and what measures the government can take if pharmaceutical patents negatively impact public health, all in an attempt to stem rising health costs. With its burgeoning middle class, "diseases of the rich" like diabetes, hypertension, obesity, heart disease and cancers are on the rise. This, matched with a high rate of HIV, TB, and other historically "poor" diseases, and coupled with the excessive cost of patented drugs, means that drugs are in high demand, but prices are sometimes inaccessibly high.
The astroturfing plot was simple: For just under half a million dollars, paid for in large part by PhRMA, the US public relations firm would support IPASA's efforts to stem South Africa's IP reform by setting up a puppet front group, to be named Forward South Africa and led from Washington DC. The group would seek to persuade the South African public that strong intellectual property policy is good for investment and that the country's health woes are a result of a failed public health system rather than patent laws and the price of medicines.
http://truth-out.org/news/item/23279-hand-in-hand-with-us-government-big-pharma-pushes-for-more-profits
