Also available in: Español
Buenos Aires, September 22– Last Tuesday, the Fundación Grupo Efecto Positivo (Positive Effect Group Foundation, also known as Fundación GEP) took part in the Health Committee meeting of Argentina’s House of Representatives, which was organized to analyze both the situation of shortages of medicines and health supplies for HIV treatment in several health centers in the country, as well as the recent resignation of the head of the AIDS National Office (DNS by its acronym in Spanish).
After members of the Commission expressed their concern about both issues, in addition to the low rate of budget implementation by the DNS for 2016 (44% so far), the floor was given to GEP’s secretary, José María Di Bello, whom after a brief introduction presented the Prices Observatory of the organization that accounts for the situation of access, availability and treatment for HIV and hepatitis C in Argentina. Analyzing its results, Di Bello explained before the legislators that Argentina pays the most expensive antiretroviral and antiviral drugs in the region, with the budget allocated to the purchase of medicines representing between 70% and 80% of the total DNS budget.
This fact is added to the existing correlation between the increased budget registered in the previous years due to fluctuations in the dollar exchange, since most drugs are purchased from multinational pharmaceutical companies: an impact fact brought forward by the Observatory was that no drug purchases have been made until June 30, 2016, which inevitable consequence relate to the [shortage of] provisions to public health centers reported in recent weeks.
GEP’s secretary, José María Di Bello, presenting the results of the Price Observatory before the House of Representatives’ Health Commission.
In such sense, Di Bello highlighted that “All the studies conducted by the Observatory attest that the abusive prices we are paying for treatments are determined by the patents, which has a negative impact on access and availability. Just to mention two examples: Not being able to purchase generic Atripla (HIV medication) costs us 20 millions dollars a year. And we managed to purchase the cure for hepatitis C for 1200 persons in 2015 because there was a national generic supplier”.
By emphasizing the importance of controlling drug prices by monitoring that there is no abuse from the patent system, the GEP’s secretary underlined that it is crucial to stand up for the patentability guidelines in force since 2012 in our country, which strict criteria prevents the granting of undeserving patents. These guidelines are currently under attack in a trial filed by the Chamber of Medicinal Specialties (CAEMe), an association that groups multinational pharmaceuticals, against the State. GEP has presented itself as a third interested party in the case, and is supporting the campaign “CAEMe y otros ¡Abandonen el caso!” (“CAEMe and the rest, Give up on the case!”)
Upon the resignation of the AIDS National Director
Into the close of his presentation, Di Bello mentioned the resignation of Dr. Carlos Falistocco to the DNS: “His was one of the best administrations of the DNS and, although he leaves behind a wonderful team, it is important that civil society gets involved in the process of choosing the new authorities. Together with the AIDS Office, we have built public policies that were submitted by Minister Lemus before United Nations. We call on the Commission to follow up the request made by the entire civil society working with HIV of taking part on this decision: We are not part of the problem; we are part of the solution”.
Other voices from the civil society were Catalina Castillo, from Red Bonaerense de Personas Viviendo con VIH/sida (Buenosairean Network of People Living with HIV / AIDS), and Martín Apaz, from Devenir Diverse. Both stressed the reported shortages in the areas where they work, highlighting the need to work on the social situation in addressing the response to HIV, and joined the appeal of participating in the nomination of the new DNS director. The meeting ended with the signing by all the attending representatives (17 in total) of the majority opinion regarding the appeal for the requested report on the topics discussed. We hope that our admonitions are taken in consideration for the resolution of current pressing situations that are keeping the community on alert.