Copyright 2000 Globe Newspaper Company
The Boston
Globe
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March 3, 2000, Friday ,THIRD EDITION
SECTION: NATIONAL/FOREIGN; Pg. A2
LENGTH: 726 words
HEADLINE:
NEW DRUGS ARE URGED BY CLINTON TAX CREDIT AIMS TO SPUR EFFORT TO COMBAT AIDS
BYLINE: By John Donnelly, Globe Staff
BODY:
WASHINGTON - Hoping to spur a race for the
discovery of vaccines for the world's deadliest diseases, President Clinton
yesterday brought to the White House the heads of the four largest
pharmaceutical companies with an offer to create a guaranteed market for new
drugs in poor countries.
Clinton announced legislation to create a
$1 billion tax credit over 10 years for
companies that would cover the cost of economical vaccines for
HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, or malaria in developing nations. The
meeting was prompted by the unfolding health pandemic in Africa, where 13
million children have lost one or both parents to AIDS.
Clinton said
nothing at the beginning of the meeting in his Cabinet Room, but listened for an
hour to participants from pharmaceutical and biotech companies, public health
advocates, officials from philanthropic institutions, and from those in his
administration. He spoke at the end, telling the group that dealing with the
diseases of those in poverty was a moral obligation.
"He told us, 'It
was the right thing to do,' " said Carol Bellamy, executive director of UNICEF.
The big question remains whether the pharmaceutical companies - known as
Big Pharma - will calculate that the administration's incentives, coupled with
other publicly financed incentives, would create a profitable market.
There was some doubt yesterday. "I think it's great the president called
this meeting, but what we've heard from the industry in the past is that
$1 billion is not nearly enough pull to get Big Pharma
interested in working on these vaccines," said Jim Yong Kim, codirector of
Harvard University's Program in Infectious Disease and Social Change.
Michael R. Kremer, a Harvard economist whose research influenced the
president's proposal, said the plan was "a major step in the right direction,
but I think more is going to be needed."
Kremer, who estimated that
$2.5 billion over 10 years in incentives per vaccine would be
needed to spark interest from the pharmaceutical companies, said he expected
funds from the World Bank and European countries to help bridge the gap.
The administration plan, which in some respects parallels legislation
sponsored by Democratic Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts and Republican
Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee, also calls for $50 million
toward a vaccine-purchase fund established by the Global Alliance for Vaccines.
The meeting yesterday almost fell through, according to Senate and White
House officials. In exchange for a presidential audience and the ensuing free
publicity, White House officials requested that the pharmaceutical companies
donate large amounts of existing vaccines and push ahead with clinical trials of
drugs.
At first, officials resisted, but they later relented. Among the
announcements yesterday outside the Cabinet Room: Merck & Co. donated 5
million doses of Recombivaz HB, a vaccine to prevent hepatitis B, a
$100 million value; SmithKline Beecham agreed to continue a
second stage of clinical trials for a malaria vaccine; American Home Products
Corp. donated 10 million doses of Haemophilus influenza type-B vaccine, helping
protect 3 million children; and Aventis Pharm gave 50 million doses of polio
vaccine to five war-ravaged African nations.
The company heads said they
were already committed to doing research on vaccines. "The key is once these
drugs are discovered is to get access to them worldwide, particularly the
developing world," said Raymond V. Gilmartin, chairman, president, and CEO of
Merck.
Gilmartin described the White House initiative as a means of
"providing funding to the developing world to be able to develop the
infrastructure, the health care delivery systems, as well as to be able to
finance health programs within each of these countries."
After the
meeting, Nils Daulaire, president and CEO of Global Health Council, a White
River Junction, Vt., coalition of international providers, said he was surprised
at the support expressed by the industry presidents.
"They see the
opening being provided by the president's policy," said Daulaire, a former
administration health policy adviser. "One of the Big Pharma heads said vaccines
account for less than 2 percent of their overall budget. They could double their
investment and still not make a huge dent on their bottom line."
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