Mexico City - More than a hundred AIDS activists
participated in a mock funeral procession Wednesday to protest
against pharmaceutical company Abbott Laboratories' spiralling costs
of the antiretroviral drug Kaletra.
Activists from Colombia, the United States, France, Guatemala and
Mexico wore black robes and white skull masks as they carried a
coffin outside the venue of the XVII International AIDS Conference in
Mexico City.
The woman lying still in the coffin had a sign pasted on her
forehead that said she was 'dead because of lack of Kaletra.' The
protestors wailed, shouted and rang bells as they circled the
conference venue.
Activists said the drug costs 500 dollars in Mexico, but is priced
at 50 dollars in some other countries. They accused Abbott of being
the only pharmaceutical company that refused to negotiate with the
Mexican government and NGOs to lower the prices of AIDS drugs.
The cost of HIV/AIDS drugs is becoming a major issue in the
capacity of AIDS-affected countries to deliver widespread and
equitable treatment and care.
Kaletra, which is generically called Lopinavir/Ritonavir, is a
critical drug as it has fewer side-effects than other toxic
antiretroviral combinations. It doesn't require refrigeration, an
important feature in developing countries that have areas with
intermittent or no electricity.
Protests are not new to Abbott, which was forced to close its
booth at the International AIDS Conference in Bangkok in 2004.
After several failed negotiations with Abbott since 2005, Thailand
issued a compulsory license in 2007 to overcome a patent barrier on
Lopinavir/Ritonavir. This enabled the country to either legally
import it or produce it locally.
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