Access to Medicines

Johannesburg/New York, November 5, 2009 — A retreat from international funding commitments for AIDS threatens to undermine the dramatic gains made in reducing AIDS-related illness and death in recent years, according to a new report released today by the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

A week since the campaign was launched, well over 7,000 e-mails have been sent to the drug companies by supporters from Japan to Mexico, Myanmar to Burkina Faso.

New York/London, September 30, 2009 – The international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) today called on nine of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies to help accelerate the availability of new treatments for millions of people living with HIV/AIDS, by pooling their patents on a list of key HIV medicines.

In the developing world, HIV/AIDS is an increasingly threatening emergency. Shortages of appropriate drugs and diagnostics are now joined by new challenges. Funds for programs have dried up, even though much-needed newer drugs are priced beyond the reach of most people.

When drug companies put their patents into a patent pool, they still get their royalties, while other companies use the patents to make cheaper drugs. Everyone wins.

With a dire need for newer medications, a shortfall in funding and no increases on the horizon, the AIDS emergency in the developing world is far from over. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) spoke out at the International AIDS Society Conference held in July in Cape Town, South Africa, to push for urgent action.

An HIV vaccine trial in Thailand involving 16,000 volunteers showed potentially promising results as transmission of the virus was cut by a third. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) welcomes the initiative as it opens up a new chapter in HIV vaccine research.

Indian authorities have rejected patent requests from United States pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences for two life-saving HIV/AIDS drugs, Tenofovir and Darunavir, as they were considered to be in infringement of the patent law.

Marielle Bemelmans, MSF head of mission in Malawi, explains how universal access to HIV drugs works in Malawi and why the high prices of new HIV/AIDS drugs puts this great achievement in peril.

Cape Town, July 20, 2009 – Stagnation in HIV/AIDS funding and the high cost of new medicines are putting the lives of thousands of poor patients at risk, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) warned today at the 2009 International AIDS Society conference in South Africa . Patients needing new drug regimens will return to AIDS “death row.” While the lack of access to antiretroviral treatment for seven million people remains unaddressed, inadequate financing now further threatens treatment scale-up.

Cape Town, July 17, 2009 - Recent disruptions in the supply of anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs and other essential medical items in at least six African countries are putting HIV patients’ lives at risk, said the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) today, in advance of the International AIDS Society Conference in Cape Town, South Africa.

Millions of people are infected with Chagas disease yet they do not know. They can die in silence, without asking for help, without knowing why. It's time to act: diagnose and treat now!

Barcelona/Geneva, New York, May, 19, 2009 – The World Health Organization (WHO) has cut short its annual health ministers meeting because of influenza A (H1N1) preparations and has postponed discussions about Chagas disease. Much needed progress in diagnosing and treating people for this neglected disease must not be further delayed, warned the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) today.

Geneva/New York, May 15, 2009 – A new treatment option for sleeping sickness, a fatal disease that threatens 60 million people across sub-Saharan Africa, has been added to the Essential Medicines List (EML) of the World Health Organization (WHO). The inclusion of NECT (Nifurtimox-Eflornithine Combination Therapy) is based on an application submitted by the non-profit Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), supported by the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), and Epicentre, MSF’s epidemiological research center.

While uncertainty still prevails over the severity of a possible influenza pandemic, many developing countries do not have stockpiles of medicines or advanced purchase commitments with manufacturers to ensure they can protect their populations if the pandemic does take hold.

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) presents further evidence that adequate food supplements are needed as early intervention to avert widespread malnutrition in young children.

UNITAID and the Clinton Foundation’s HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI) have just announced price reductions negotiated with generic companies for 41 adult and pediatric antiretroviral formulations to treat HIV/AIDS. This is welcome news which must be interpreted with caution, says international medical humanitarian organization, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

Geneva/New York – April 8, 2009 – A global malaria drug subsidy to be launched this month is failing to look at medical needs and is jeopardizing the future of the most effective malaria treatments that exist today, says international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

On World TB Day this year, MSF focusses on the urgent need for TB tests to deliver faster and accurate results, for all patients, even in the remotest settings. Patients from Kenya, India and Georgia tell their stories of how TB tests today are failing them.

On March 17-18, 2009, MSF brought together a number of doctors, lab workers, community activists and test developers to answer this question. MSF Access Campaign Director Dr. Tido von Schoen-Angerer talks us through what is needed in a new TB test and explains why we can’t settle for anything less.

Southern Sudan is a region synonymous with war, famine and displacement of people. Its people have been shattered by more than 20 years of conflict. Four years after the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which ended the war between the government in Khartoum and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, southern Sudan’s population still faces ongoing violence, disease outbreaks, starvation, and virtually non-existent access to health care in many areas. These people’s struggles and triumphs are never clearer than in the stories of their women.

More than 23,440 children have been treated, and 88 percent cured since MSF launched a nutrition program in Burkina Faso in September 2007. The majority of patients were treated with nutrient-rich, therapeutic ready-to-use food (RUF).

Geneva/New York, February 23, 2009 — MSF and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) called today for more sustainable funding for research and development (R&D) to tackle deadly, yet neglected diseases, such as sleeping sickness, visceral leishmaniasis, and Chagas disease, that affect millions of people around the world.

MSF welcomes recognition by UK drugs company GlaxoSmithKline that patents act as a barrier to research and development and that patent pools offer new ways to stimulate research into neglected diseases. Promises now need to be turned into action.

New Orleans, Paris, Geneva; December 9, 2008 – Positive results from a pivotal, multi-center, multi-country Phase III trial investigating an improved treatment for the advanced stage of sleeping sickness were presented yesterday at the 57th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene held in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. This trial shows conclusively that NECT is a safe, effective, and practical treatment.

Geneva, December 4, 2008—International medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) welcomes the ruling by the Madras High Court instructing India's patent office to hear the opponents to the patent application for valganciclovir by the pharmaceutical company Roche.

New York, New York, December 1, 2008—A partial dose of a commonly used vaccine against meningitis may be as effective as a full dose, according to newly published research in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases. Fractional dosing would enable large-scale vaccination campaigns during epidemics, especially at a time of global vaccine shortages.

A patent-sharing scheme that helped the United States build planes during World War I now could help drug manufacturers create new, urgently needed medicines.

Every day the medical teams of Médecins Sans Frontières come up against the obstacle of inadequate or ineffective tools needed to treat, detect or prevent disease – especially those diseases that predominantly occur in poor countries, such as tuberculosis, malaria or other neglected infectious diseases.

September 29, 2008, Geneva — A World Health Organization meeting to develop new recommendations for the treatment of malnutrition will have a far-reaching impact on the quality of food aid and nutrition programs for infants and young children, according to the medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

Rio de Janeiro/New York, September 2, 2008 – The Brazilian Patent Office has rejected a patent application by Gilead on the drug tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF), in a move that could increase access to a key HIV/AIDS medicine across the developing world, says international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

Mexico City, August 5, 2008 —Treating children and adolescents living with HIV effectively in resource-limited settings is possible, but adapted medicines, diagnostic tools, and treatment strategies are urgently needed to prevent more deaths, according to Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

Karen Day, Pharmacist Coordinator for MSF’s Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines, provides an overview of some of the key issues in the 11th edition report ‘Untangling the Web of Antiretroviral Price Reductions.’

Ellen ‘t Hoen, Policy Advocacy Director of MSF’s Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines, outlines how the a patent pool would work and what benefits it could bring.

by Susan Shepherd, MD
Nutrition Advisor
Access Campaign for Essential Medicines

Geneva, July 9, 2008 -  “UNITAID has shown great vision and understanding of what needs to be done - this could potentially have a big impact, both for access to medicines and for medical innovation," said Ellen ‘t Hoen, Director of Policy at MSF’s Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines.

Rome/New York, June 2, 2008 – As heads-of-state and nearly 20 key United Nations officials meet in Rome this week to design a plan to tackle the current global food crisis, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is urging the adoption and rapid scale-up of specific nutritional strategies that target children under two years of age.

Before the High Level task force communicates its first Comprehensive Framework for Action, Médecins Sans Frontières urges careful consideration of the population that is most vulnerable to the dire consequences of malnutrition – children under two.

A UN health research and development (R&D) summit concluding in Geneva today has failed to take concrete action towards reforming a medical innovation system that largely disregards the health needs of millions of people in developing countries.

April 28, 2008, Geneva – This week, more than 150 countries at a United Nations health research and development (R&D) summit in Geneva have a chance to put right a great wrong. At the heart of the problem is a broken system of medical R&D that largely disregards the health needs of millions of people in developing countries.

Johannesburg, November 6, 2007 — Drug developers can speed up the development of urgently needed new tuberculosis drugs by adopting a different strategy, the medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) joins international experts in stating today. According to a report published today in the open-source medical journal PLoS Medicine, mimicking the approach used to test AIDS drugs would accelerate the research process, and get drugs to patients who most need them, faster.

Geneva, November 5, 2007 — Health talks opening today at the United Nations in Geneva have the potential to change the way medical research is conducted and ensure that urgently needed products are developed and made accessible, the international medical humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and Knowledge Ecology International said today.

The public sector has a key role in drug R&D. Patenting minor changes to extend monopoly prices spells misuse
By Dr. Brian Druker

New Delhi/Geneva, August 6, 2007 – The landmark decision by the High Court in Chennai to uphold India's Patents Act in the face of the challenge by Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis is a major victory for patients' access to affordable medicines in developing countries, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) stated today.

Sydney, July 23, 2007 — A new report by the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) shows dramatic price reductions for second-line antiretroviral treatment over the last year, largely stimulated by a compulsory license issued by Thailand. But the report also identifies a worrying trend: using the newer, less-toxic first-line combination now recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) raises the cost for patients by nearly 500 percent, from US $99 to up to US $487. The report, 'Untangling the Web of Price Reductions,' was released today by MSF at the 4th International AIDS Society Conference in Sydney.

Every minute, a child under the age of 15 is infected with HIV. AIDS kills over 1,000 children every day, and claims roughly half a million young lives every year.

Johannesburg, South Africa, May 24, 2007 — The dire lack of health care workers in southern Africa is threatening efforts to expand access to HIV/AIDS treatment, warned the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in a new report issued today. The report covers four southern African countries–Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique and South Africa–where more than one million people still need life-saving antiretroviral treatment but do not have access to it. Lack of action will result in unnecessary illness and death.

By Dr. Tido von Schoen-Angerer
Executive director
Access to Essential Medicines Campaign
Doctors Without Borders

Dr. Buddhima Lokuge
U.S. manager, Access to Essential Medicines Campaign

Press teleconference on Thailand's compulsory licensing of an HIV/AIDS treatment, Abbott's response, and the coming crisis in availablity of second-line HIV drugs in developing countries.

New York, April 24, 2007 – In the last weeks, tens of thousands of displaced Somalis have fled Mogadishu following a resurgence of violence affecting the capital city of Somalia, already home to many displaced people. This recent spell of violence has put on roads entire columns of people attempting to move to safer areas of the country such as Lower Shabelle region, Hiiraan region, Galguduud region, and Bay region.

By David Wilson
Medical Coordinator, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontieres

Bangkok/New York/Geneva, 15 March 2007 — The international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) today denounced Abbott Laboratories' decision not to market its new medicines in Thailand. The Chicago-based multinational pharmaceutical company has cited Thailand's use of compulsory licenses as a reason for taking the drastic measures. MSF notes that the use of compulsory licenses to improve access to essential medicines is consistent with international laws, and is concerned that patients will bear the brunt of Abbott's harsh decision.

By Christophe Fournier, MD, International President
Ellen 't Hoen, LLM, Director of Policy and Advocacy, Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines
Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF)

By Dr. Richard Rockefeller
Chairman, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Board of Advisors

New York/Geneva, March 5, 2007 — On the day of the last hearing in Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis legal challenge against India's Patents Act, the company continues to ignore the global protests asking it to drop the case. The international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) strongly condemns Novartis for pushing forward with the case and is asking the company's shareholders to urge CEO Vasella to withdraw the legal challenge in India, which could jeopardize worldwide access to essential medicines.

By Dr. Jean-Hervé Bradol
President, Médecins Sans Frontières

New Delhi/Geneva, 29 January 2007 – As pharmaceutical company Novartis proceeded with its legal challenge against the Indian government in a court hearing in Chennai, India, today, nearly a quarter of a million people from over 150 countries expressed their concern about the negative impact the company's actions could have on access to medicines in developing countries. The Indian Network for People with HIV/AIDS (INP+), the People's Health Movement, the Centre for Trade and Development (Centad), together with the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), called on the company again today to immediately cease its legal action in India.

On Friday, January 26, 2007, MSF held a press teleconference titled "People Before Patents," to brief members of the media on a legal challenge to India's patent law brought by the Swiss-based pharmaceutical company Novartis.

New York, January 12, 2007— Proposals to accelerate the development of tuberculosis (TB) drugs were outlined today at the conclusion of a two-day symposium titled "No Time to Wait," convened in New York this week by the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontires (MSF) with the support of Howard P. Milstein and Weill Cornell Medical College's Abby and Howard P. Milstein Program in Chemical Biology. The symposium brought together more than 100 TB specialists, drug developers and regulators, policy makers, donors and activists to outline practical proposals to fill the gaps in TB drug research and development (R&D).

MSF expresses concern over the US intervention in the decision by the government of Thailand to issue a compulsory license on patents for the AIDS drug efavirenz, and explains why the US government should refrain from such actions.

New Delhi/Geneva, December 20, 2006 — A legal challenge by Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis against India's patent law could restrict access to affordable medicines in the developing world, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said today. The organization is urging Novartis to immediately drop the case.

New Delhi/Geneva, December 20, 2006 — A legal challenge by Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis against India's patent law could restrict access to affordable medicines in the developing world, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said today. The organization is urging Novartis to immediately drop the case.

Bangkok/New York, November 29, 2006 — Thailand today for the first time announced it will issue a compulsory license for use by the government to improve access to a key HIV/AIDS medicine, efavirenz. The international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) welcomes this important move and urges the government to issue such licenses for the production of other essential medicines.

Geneva, November 14, 2006 - Drug prices are on the rise five years after the historic signing of the Doha Declaration on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and Public Health at the 2001 World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial meeting in Doha, Qatar, said the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontierès (MSF) today. Getting drug prices to decrease will require countries to make more extensive use of the TRIPS flexibilities enshrined in the Doha Declaration, which sought to "...protect public health and (...) promote access to medicines for all."

Guatemala/Geneva, November 3, 2006 - On the occasion of the board meeting of the Global Fund to Fight against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, in Guatemala City, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is calling for increased efforts from the government of Guatemala and the Global Fund to maintain treatment of patients living with HIV/AIDS and to expand coverage to those not currently under treatment in Guatemala, where an estimated 60 percent of people living with HIV/AIDS requiring treatment do not receive it, according to UNAIDS.

New Delhi/Geneva, September 26, 2006 — A challenge against India's patent law filed by the Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis will be heard in the Chennai High Court in India today. The international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) warns that the case may have serious implications for future access to essential drugs worldwide.

Canada was the first G8 country to amend its national laws to implement the World Trade Organization’s August 30th decision, allowing generic versions of patented drugs to be manufactured and exported under compulsory license.

Bangkok/New York, July 6, 2006 – People living with HIV/AIDS in developing countries in urgent need of an improved version of the AIDS drug lopinavir/ritonavir continue to be denied access to it by its sole manufacturer, Abbott Laboratories, according to the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

This is the ninth edition of Untangling the web of price reductions: a pricing guide for the purchase of ARVs for developing countries. The report was first published by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in October 2001 in response to the lack of transparent and reliable information about prices of pharmaceutical products on the international market – a factor which significantly hampers access to essential medicines in developing countries.

By Rowan Gillies and Ellen 'T hoen

New Delhi, May 10, 2006 – The medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is today expressing its support for Indian civil society groups in their battle against a patent application by Gilead Sciences for the key AIDS drug tenofovir (tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, TDF). People living with HIV/AIDS in India opposed the patent application yesterday on the grounds that the drug consists of a previously known compound, and should not be considered an invention according to India's Patent Act.

With tuberculosis (TB) killing 1.7 million people and newly infecting nine million each year, this curable disease is far from being curbed. The HIV/AIDS pandemic exacerbates TB's scourge through co-infection, as does the increasing emergence of drug-resistant TB. The standard TB treatment available today is long and complex. It relies on drugs developed over forty years ago and takes six months for patients to complete, and the last four decades have brought nothing in the way of improvement.

Human African Trypanosomiasis, also known as African Sleeping Sickness, is a fatal and much neglected disease that continues to plague parts of Africa. The drug most commonly used to treat the disease is so toxic that it kills one in 20 patients. While a better drug exists, it is too complex to use in resource-poor settings. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), sleeping sickness has made a disturbing comeback over the past few decades.

Caring for children with HIV/AIDS is charged with obstacles. The struggle begins with doctors not being able to tell whether antibodies found in a small baby's blood are from the mother or whether they suggest the child itself is infected with the virus. Frustrated with the situation, MSF has been cooperating with scientists working on a new technology.

The HIV/AIDS pandemic has vividly brought to the world's attention the fact that an increasing percentage of the world's population lives without access to essential medicines. The access crisis is twofold — on the one hand, crucially needed diagnostics, drugs, and vaccines that safely and efficiently respond to diseases affecting the world's poorest do not exist; and on the other, patients living in poverty cannot afford their own treatment, as those medicines that do exist are priced beyond their reach.

The current medical research and development (R&D) system, which relies on patents to stimulate innovation, does not foster the necessary research to address the needs of billions of people in developing countries. This is because the R&D system provides greater rewards for developing drugs that sell well, rather than drugs that meet unaddressed health needs.

New York, April 27, 2006 – Abbott Laboratories is failing to make an important new AIDS drug formulation available to people in developing countries, according to the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). MSF urges the Chicago-based drug company to take immediate steps to make the heat-stable tablet version of lopinavir/ritonavir, marketed as Kaletra, available outside of the United States. MSF also calls on Abbott to fill an order for the medicine for 400 MSF patients in nine countries that the organization placed over one month ago on March 15, 2006.

Dear Mr. White,

We are writing to you to express our concern about the lack of availability in developing countries of the new melt extrusion (Meltrex) formulation of lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r), marketed as Kaletra (200/50mg tablets).

New Delhi/Geneva, March 30, 2006 — Today, the Indian Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (INP+), the Manipur Network of Positive People (MNP+), and the Lawyers' Collective HIV/AIDS Unit officially submitted their opposition to a patent application filed in the Kolkata patent office by Glaxo Group Limited for Combivir, a fixed-dose combination of two AIDS drugs (zidovudine/lamivudine, or AZT/3TC). The opposition is based on technical and health grounds. If India grants a patent on this AIDS drug, it will set a precedent that will hamper access to affordable AIDS medicines worldwide.

Geneva, March 28, 2006 — As the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNAIDS release a long-awaited report on their 3x5 AIDS treatment initiative, and call for universal access to AIDS drugs, the medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is expressing concern that not enough is being done to make sure that the drugs needed to expand and sustain treatment are accessible to those who need them.

Transcript of a press teleconference on the lack of availability of Abbott's new heat-stable Kaletra in African countries.

Lagos/Berlin/New York, March 15, 2006 — People living with HIV/AIDS in developing countries can't get new and/or improved drugs that can make a critical difference, said the medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). MSF also said that it refuses to accept the standard practice of drug companies to market less adapted drugs to African, Asian and Latin American countries while reserving improved or newly developed drugs for countries that can pay more. For this reason MSF is placing an order directly with the worldwide headquarters of Abbott Laboratories in Chicago for a new heat stable version of the drug called lopinavir/ritonavir, which the company right now only sells in the US at a price of US$9,687 (average wholesale price) per patient per year.

Denver, CO, February 7, 2006 — As AIDS experts gather this week in Denver to discuss advances in treatment at the 13th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI), Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is concerned that innovations from years ago are still not reaching people in developing countries. More than three years after Gilead Sciences first announced its "Access Program" for tenofovir, this key antiretroviral medicine remains largely unavailable in developing countries.

Bangkok, January 11, 2006 — As talks take place in Chiang Mai, Thailand, this week on the intellectual property provisions of a proposed US-Thailand Free Trade Agreement, the international medical organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) warns that acceptance of the US proposal could restrict access to essential medicines in Thailand and endanger the country's national HIV/AIDS treatment program.

Abuja, Nigeria, December 8, 2005 - Newer AIDS drugs and formulations of existing drugs are urgently needed in Africa but are not available because brand name companies are choosing not to sell them and there are no generic versions, according to the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

Abuja, Nigeria, December 6, 2005 - Having to pay for HIV/AIDS care increases the risk of treatment failure, according to new research from Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) presented this week at the International Conference on AIDS and Sexually transmitted infections in Africa (ICASA), in Abuja, Nigeria.

Geneva, Tuesday December 6, 2005 — Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) today expressed alarm at the decision of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to amend the TRIPS Agreement based on a mechanism that has failed to prove it can increase access to medicines.

Nairobi/New York, November 28, 2005 — One of the reasons that half of all children with HIV/AIDS die before the age of two is that pharmaceutical companies are not making child-friendly versions of their anti-AIDS drugs. Today, Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) calls on companies to make easy-to-use versions for children of all their AIDS medicines to help prolong and improve the lives of more children with HIV/AIDS. There is also a desperate need for simple and affordable AIDS tests for babies in resource-poor settings.

The very costly and complex treatment for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis is only accessible to a very small minority among the millions of people affected by the disease worldwide.

London/New York, June 8th, 2005 - Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), other non-governmental organizations, scientists and a number of Nobel laureates around the world today joined the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative¹ in a global appeal to focus research on developing new drugs, diagnostic tests and vaccines for diseases of the poor. The signatories demand political leadership in defining research priorities, ensuring sustained financial support and reducing patent and regulatory barriers to step up vital research and development (R&D) activities.

Geneva, May 17, 2005 – Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said today that lack of commitment from the leadership of the World Health Organization (WHO) is crippling the effort to improve access to affordable versions of needed drugs.

March 23, 2005 - The Indian Parliament has passed a new law to become compliant with the World Trade Organization (WTO)'s Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is deeply concerned that the new law will result in people in the developing world being cut off from the vital source of affordable generic versions of essential medicines produced in India.

Delhi, India, 22 March 2005 – Under a new Bill approved today, India will start granting product patents for medicines - something they have not done since 1970 - without the necessary procedures in place to safeguard against increases in medicine prices. India amended its 1970 Patent Act in order to be compliant with the requirements of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Geneva, 15 March 2005 - As the Indian Parliament prepares to tackle the country's implementation of the World Trade Organization's (WTO) agreement regulating patents on medicines, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is urging Indian decision makers to ensure that patients in developing countries will continue to have access to affordable medicines.

Geneva/New York, 11 March 2005 - Following the recent passage in Guatemala of Decree 31-88 and the US-Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA), the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reiterated its concerns about their devastating impact on access to essential medicines in Guatemala and throughout the region.

MSF and Bernard Hirschel respond to Carol Adelman's Wall Street Journal Opinion Piece

Durban/Brussels, 13 December 2004: Starting from Tuesday, 14 December 2004, an alliance of renowned experts, institutions and non-governmental organizations will launch the ‘Free by 5’ declaration and present it to the World Bank, aid donors, the World Health Organization (WHO), UNAIDS and many other parties. While the WHO aims to have three million HIV-positive people on Anti-Retroviral (ARV) treatment in the course of next year, the declaration points out that ARVs and associated care need to be provided free of charge to all patients in developing countries.

A response from Roger Teck, MD, Doctors Without Borders physcian in Thyolo, Malawi to a San Francisco Chronicle op-ed article.

Geneva/Guatemala City, November 26, 2004 - The Guatemalan Congress's repeal of a law that severely restricts people's access to affordable essential medicines is a positive step forward. The international humanitarian medical aid organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said today that the government of Guatemala should now take advantage of this decision to ensure treatment for greater numbers of Guatemalans living with HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases. But MSF also warned that this step forward could be undermined and reversed by similar provisions included in the recently signed United States-Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA).

Geneva/Mexico City, November 16, 2004 - The current system for health research and development is failing to bring the benefits of medical progress to the poor, according to the medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) on the opening day of the Ministerial Summit on Health Research, "Bridging the Know-Do Divide to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals," in Mexico City.

On intellectual property rights and access to medicines.

New York/Lima May 14, 2004 - Intellectual property proposals being negotiated in a free trade agreement between the United States, Peru, and other Andean countries could severely restrict access to essential medicines for millions of people in Peru and other parts of the Andean region according to the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). MSF warns that the negotiations being launched next week are part of a US strategy to span the globe with bilateral and regional free trade agreements that undermine international consensus reached at the World Trade Organization (WTO) about the appropriate balance between the protection of private intellectual property and the protection of public health. These agreements will make it impossible for dozens of countries to uphold their right and obligation to ensure access to affordable medicines for their populations.

New York/Bujumbura,  May 6, 2004 - One million people in Burundi are excluded from even the most basic healthcare and two-thirds of the population have to resort to extreme measures like forced labor or selling their meager belongings for treatment, according to a new report from Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). This situation is not linked to Burundi's ongoing war, but rather is a direct consequence of a new healthcare financing system.

Geneva, April 22, 2004 - Widespread use of a new fast-acting and potent treatment for malaria is finally on the horizon in Africa, where malaria is the number one killer of children. But the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) warns that artemisinin-based combination therapy or ACT will only be accessible to all in need if immediate action is taken to finance scale-up of production of the drugs.

Geneva, April 22, 2004 - Widespread use of a new fast-acting and potent treatment for malaria is finally on the horizon in Africa, where malaria is the number one killer of children. But the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) warns that artemisinin-based combination therapy or ACT will only be accessible to all in need if immediate action is taken to finance scale-up of production of the drugs.

More than sixteen months after the multinational pharmaceutical company Merck & Co. announced that it would reduce the price of its first-line AIDS drug Stocrin (efavirenz, EFV) to less than $1 per day in developing countries, the offer has failed to materialize.

Bangkok, Thailand, February 13, 2004 - The recent court victory of two Thai people living with HIV/AIDS against a multinational pharmaceutical company is described in an article published in today's Lancet medical journal.

As 34 Latin American and Caribbean countries gather in Puebla, Mexico, to resume negotiations of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), the international humanitarian medical organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières(MSF) continues to call on countries to make public health a priority.

On CAFTA and access to medicines

Transcript of Teleconference Hosted by MSF's Kevin Phelan

Birgit Stümpfl, a German midwife, runs the MSF Chamanculo clinic for Prevention of Mother-To-Child Transmission (PMTCT).

by Patrice Trouiller, Piero Olliaro, Els Torreele, James Orbinski, Richard Laing, and Nathan Ford

On the upcoming meeting of the G8, TRIPS and accees to medicines.

On the occasion of the second Board of Directors meeting of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund), scheduled to take place in New York City, April 23-24, 2002.

Regarding trade agreements, intellectual property rights and access to medicines.

Transcript of press teleconference hosted by MSF

On the G8, TRIPS and the need to provide funds for treatment of HIV/AIDS and neglected diseases in developing countries.

From Thailand to South Africa, MSF field projects still struggle to overcome cost barriers associated with antiretroviral medicines and treatments for common HIV-related opportunistic infections.

Bearing witness to injustice and abuse has been a fundamental component of the mission of MSF's since the organization's founding in 1971. But how do we decide when and how to raise our voices?