Abbott tue les malades thaïlandaisES : campagne de protestation

Dear Sir, Dear Madam,

You receive this letter because you are a shareholder of Abbott. In a few days, the General Assembly of the group will take place. I’m asking you to do all that you can for the group to change its recent decision about Thailand, and starts again registering new drugs in this country. Abbott’s policy in Thailand will otherwiser put to deaths tens of thousands of patients in Thailand, in a very near future. If you or your company does not clearly oppose this decision, you’ll be responsible of the health degradation and of the death of patients.

In January, Thailand issued compulsory licenses on products whose patent is owned by Abbott. It did so legally, abiding by the international laws on intellectual property. These laws, clearly endorsed by the international community, were passed in a World Trade Organization meeting in 2001. They give the right to any country in the world to produce and/or import generic drugs at a lesser cost in various situations (on of them being a major health crisis). The decision of your group not to provide any new product as a mean of retaliation is then not only scandalous, it is iniquitous.

Among the medicines you’re depriving Thai people from, one of them is an extremely important one for countries with rural and tropical areas like Thailand. Aluvia, a new generation anti retroviral drug, is indeed heat stable and does not need to be refrigerated. It is then vital for many Thai people, a million of whom were HIV-positive in 2005.

Abbott’s recent declaration to offer HIV treatments to some countries will leave our anger unabated. It only provides other evidence that faced to some pressure, you can modify your prices without endangering the financial health of the group. Actually, the results published last week for the first 3 months of 2007 show that it is far from being the case.

Abbott is currently the most hated pharmaceutical firm in the world. It was not given any opportunity to be present at the last HIV International Conference in Toronto, in august 2006. In March, its presentation at the Paris Conference was interrupted by patients. Health professionals around the world have decided not to prescribe any new drug if an important change does not happen in the group’s policy. Abbott’s public image is wasted, and the group is not any longer regarded as a responsible party for both organizations nor for governments.

There is no justification for depriving tens of thousands of patients from drugs that are essential to their life. This is why Act Up-Paris will make your name and that of your group public if you were to approve of the decision of the group on April, 27th. We are determined to identify individually every person that supported the decision, be it passively by just non-opposing to it. Recently, some of its shareholders have criticized Abbott’s decision. They proved that one can be a shareholder and promote ethical practices. It is now your turn. The world is watching you.

Sincerly