Clinton Foundation Received Up To $81m From Clients Of Controversial HSBC Bank - Guardian

[Beacool]

69. The willful choice to ignore whatever doesn't fit their views is endemic on this site.

They must not know, or not care, how much pressure the Clinton Foundation exerted on pharmaceutical companies to get them to agree to lower the price of the ARVs that were needed desperately, particularly in Africa.

"At the beginning of the new millennium there was a breakthrough in treatment provision for resource poor areas when an Indian pharmaceutical company started to produce generic antiretrovirals that were exactly the same as those made by large pharmaceutical companies, but significantly cheaper. This sparked a price war between branded and generic drug makers, which forced the large pharmaceutical companies to lower the price of their HIV drugs. This competition, coupled with pressure from activists, organizations - such as the Clinton Foundation - and governments of poor countries with severe HIV epidemics, dramatically reduced the price of ARVs for developing countries. By the middle of 2001, triple combination therapy was available from Indian generic manufacturers for as little as $295 per person per year."

http://www.avert.org/antiretroviral-drug-prices.htm


"Former President Bill Clinton announced yesterday that his foundation had negotiated deep price reductions for generic versions of costly, second-line AIDS drugs needed when the original medicines fail, as well as for less toxic, easier-to-use first-line medicines combined in a pill that can be taken once a day.

Standing next to Thailand’s health minister, Mr. Clinton also forcefully endorsed recent decisions by Thailand and Brazil to break patents held by American pharmaceutical companies that are charging prices Mr. Clinton described as exorbitant, but that drug company officials said were reasonable."

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/09/world/09aidsdrugs.html?_r=0

"The first strategy, procurement arrangements to increase purchase volumes, often involves pooled procurement schemes that group multiple purchasers into a single purchasing unit in the hope that economies of scale will lead to lower prices. A pooled procurement mechanism is currently being developed at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund).2,3

The second large-scale strategy involves third-party consultation and price negotiation with generic ARV suppliers, a practice introduced by the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI) in 2003."

http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/87/7/08-058925/en/