Promoting Health of People in Impoverished Countries Can Strengthen Shareholder Value and Save Lives
July 19, 2001Oxfam today challenged Pfizer, the world's largest pharmaceutical company, to use its industry position to save lives in the developing world by loosening its grip on international trade rules that provide 20-year patent protections for life-saving drugs and by expanding its free drug donations that treat preventable disease and HIV/AIDS.
In addition to asking Pfizer to refrain from using its political muscle for the creation of global trade rules that damage the world's poor, Oxfam calls on Pfizer CEO Henry McKinnell, also chair of the powerful industry trade association, to take a leadership role to create a systematic and transparent multi-tiered pricing policy and to increase its R&D commitment to public health issues prevalent in the developing world.
"Profits don't have to compete with pro-poor practices," said Raymond C. Offenheiser, president of the Boston-based Oxfam America, one of 12 members of Oxfam International. "Socially responsible business practices are being rewarded by investors who recognize that the corporate sector is a key actor in developing healthy and economically robust communities throughout the world."
In the report on Pfizer Formula for Fairness: patient rights before patent rights released today in eight countries, Oxfam details how Pfizer has used its multi-million dollar lobbying operation to influence U.S. government positions on global trade issues - particularly the Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) rules - created by the World Trade Organization. In New York, the Oxfam report was released during a forum at the UN Church Center that included representatives of the investment community, health advocates, pharmaceutical industry representatives, international non-governmental organizations and, religious and community leaders.
The report and related events around the world are part of Oxfam International's "Cut the Cost" campaign to promote opportunities for developing countries to have greater access to life-saving drugs.
Six medical conditions - pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria, measles, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS - account for almost 40,000 deaths a day in developing countries. Oxfam believes the greatest life-saving contribution Pfizer and other pharmaceutical companies can make to reducing many of these preventable deaths is to create more flexibility in the licensing of generic drugs.
The report recognizes Pfizer's philanthropy programs but suggests that the programs, though significant for their beneficiaries, do not represent an adequate response for the majority of people in many countries who cannot afford the prices that Pfizer charges.
The Pfizer report is the second in a series of briefing papers that analyze the human development impact of multinational corporations. In February, the Oxfam report on GlaxoSmithKline Dare to Lead: public health and company wealth initiated tremendous public support and was followed by drug price reductions for an array of its HIV/AIDS drugs.
"While Pfizer operates in a global marketplace, the investments it makes in Research and Development (R&D) fail to recognize the public health needs of a majority of the world's population," Offenheiser said. The Oxfam report calls on governments and the corporate sector to create a level playing field that allows rules more favorable to the poor.
"Pfizer should broaden the criteria it uses to set its R&D priorities," said Offenheiser. "While calculating the sales potential for drugs treating high blood pressure and baldness, they should consider the value of wiping out tuberculosis and malaria."
Never in history has scientific research provided as much hope for curing some of the most complex medical problems. Yet, some 40,000 die each day of preventable disease that goes untreated because of the lack of affordable drugs and strong healthcare delivery systems. In sub-Saharan Africa today, average life expectancy is 50 years - some 28 years less than the average for people in high-income countries. Treatable infectious diseases in the region accounts for 60% of deaths while cancer and cardiovascular disease - the leading causes of illness-related death in the U.S. accounts for only 15%. Of the 15,000 people each day diagnosed with HIV/AIDS some 95% live in developing countries where the cost of medicines is beyond the reach of patients and public health budgets.
Oxfam is calling on Pfizer, whose market value of $266 billion is larger than the combined GDP of the eighteen biggest economies in sub-Saharan Africa, to allow for voluntary licensing of life saving medicines and create a multi-tiered pricing system.
Some progress has been made recently, including a range of targeted price cuts, the abandonment by the pharmaceutical industry of the South Africa case, and the U.S. government's removal of its complaint against Brazil from the WTO dispute mechanism. However, these advances should not distract attention from the need for reform of the TRIPS agreement and increased commitments to other global health initiatives.
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