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This Week
This week at praxis...All that you can't leave behind
Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he said,
"what must I do to inherit eternal life?" He said to him,
"What is written in the law? What do you read there?" He answered,
"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
and with all your soul, and with all your strength,
and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself."
And Jesus said to him, "You have given the right answer; do this,
and you will live."
But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus,
"And who is my neighbor?"
Jesus replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho,
and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him,
and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was
going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by
on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place
and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while
traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity.
He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine
on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn,
and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them
to the innkeeper, and said, 'Take care of him; and when I come back,
I will repay you whatever more you spend.'
Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man
who fell into the hands of the robbers?" He said, "The one who
showed him mercy." Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."
----Luke 10:25-37
First, future R&D into HIV/AIDS remains an overriding priority.
Activists must forgo using price reductions in developing countries
in their arguments for lower prices in developed markets, and
pharmaceutical companies must receive limited protection against
parallel importing. Second, pharmaceuticals companies should acknowledge
through their actions that AIDS is a global emergency and there is
natural public interest in both developed and developing market prices...
Third, separate action is needed to address under-investment in
research into diseases that affect the poor. Tax incentives,
schemes to guarantee markets, and direct public investment should
all be considered, whereas the public and nonprofit sectors should
explore ways of receiving a greater share of the ongoing returns on
their 54% investment in health care R&D. Finally, the debate on price
needs to extend beyond pharmaceutical manufacturers, with governments
from developing countries addressing import tariffs, taxes, and
distribution margins, which the pharmacy industry claims account
for two-thirds of African drug price...
Reaction to these initiatives (lowering the price of HIV/AIDS drugs)
has not been wholly positive. Medecins Sans Frontires described the
industry offer as minor, "much like an elephant giving birth to a mouse"...
Alan Holmer, president of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers
of America, described the executive order as setting "an undesirable
and inappropriate precedent[and] a discriminatory approach to intellectual
property laws". Debrework Zewdie, World Bank AIDS coordinator, noted that
"even if the drugs were free, we would still have a horrendous problem
getting this [offer] to work," and thinks that the drug companies may
have opened a Pandora's box.
----"Something to Be Done: Treating HIV/AIDS" David E. Bloom and
River Path Associates, Science 2000 June 23; 288: 2171-2173
The industry's trade association, the Pharmaceutical Researchers
and Manufacturers of America, estimates that it costs $500 million
and takes 12 years to move a drug from lab bench to pharmacy shelf.
----City Pages, Vol 22 Issue 1074, "Bitter Pills"
NEW YORK, NY: (March 14, 2001) -
Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) today announced new initiatives
to help fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa:
DRUGS BELOW COST -- The company will now make its two AIDS medicines,
Videx (didanosine) and Zerit (stavudine), available in African countries
at even lower prices -- below cost -- under its existing ACCESS
partnership program with international agencies, including UNAIDS,
World Health Organization, World Bank, UNICEF and U.N. Population Fund.
TRANSPARENT PRICING -- The prices of products offered under the ACCESS
program will be fully public.
EMERGENCY PATENT RELIEF -- The company will ensure that its patents
do not prevent inexpensive HIV/AIDS therapy in Africa.
----Bristol-Meyers Squibb Press Release, www.bms.com
Questions:
- What does it mean to be a corporate neighbor? Must a corporation
bend to the public interest of world health when selling its patented products?
- In what ways do we patent or own information that could be
used to help others? What is our obligation to be a neighbor?
Where does our right to earn money come in?
- The Samaritan is the surprise neighbor because Samaritans were
outcast by the Jews. Jesus' story of neighborliness crosses cultural
boundaries. What boundaries can you or can you not cross in being
a neighbor? Who could you not accept help from?
- What kind of neighbor do we want praxis to be? And to whom?
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