HEADQUARTERS PRESS CONFERENCE BY PFIZER

HEADQUARTERS PRESS CONFERENCE BY PFIZER

At a Headquarters press conference this morning, Dr. Henry McKinnell, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Pfizer Inc., announced that the company would offer its antifungal drug Diflucan free to HIV/AIDS patients in the 50 least developed counties targeted by the United Nations as those most afflicted by the epidemic.  Dr. McKinnell said expansion of the programme, initially pioneered in South Africa earlier this year, signaled an important day for roughly 12 million AIDS patients and their families now and into the future.

Dr. McKinnell said the Diflucan Partnership, developed in cooperation with the United Nations and the World Heath Organization (WHO), was also set to extend its reach to other Southern African Development Community (SADC) nations, including Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia and Swaziland.  While Diflucan was not a treatment for HIV/AIDS, it had proven highly effective in treating two opportunistic infections, cryptococcal meningitis and esophageal candidiasis -– debilitating and ultimately life-threatening infections of the brain and esophagus, respectively –- which often affected large numbers of AIDS sufferers.  Dr. McKinnell added that through the Partnership, Pfizer would provide medical training and patient education so that its powerful antifungal could be used effectively and responsibly.

Pfizer was ready to begin expansion of Diflucan donations immediately, and would work closely with the United Nations and the WHO to launch this new facet of the initiative as quickly as possible, said Dr. McKinnell, adding that there would be “no time or dollar limits” set for implementation.  The resounding success of the Partnership’s initiatives in South Africa, enhanced by the full support of that country’s Ministry of Health, had made it an excellent candidate for expansion, he continued.  Now Pfizer, along with its partners, had built a solid framework that could provide Diflucan in ways that imposed the lowest possible stress on public health-care systems and health-care funding programmes of least developed and other poor countries already suffering myriad social and economic burdens.

Also participating in today’s announcement were Sheila Makate Sisulu, South African Ambassador to the United States, Joe B. Pressley, Executive Director of the New York AIDS Coalition, and Jacob Nkate, Botswanan Minister of Lands and Housing.  Several representatives from the United Nations Member States were also in attendance, including Martin Andjaba (Namibia), Yusuf Juwayeyi (Malawi), Percy Mangoaela (Lesotho), Leutlwetse Mmualefe (Botswana) and James Cunningham (United States).

Ms. Sisulu said that while her Government was clearly committed to providing essential drugs to the millions of South Africans affected by HIV/AIDS, its efforts to address a larger number of competing health and other crises had been hampered by limited resources.  So what made Pfizer’s announcement today so important was that the company had stepped forward at a crucial time, when the South African Government had been searching for public/private partnerships to help bridge the gap.  She added that last December, the Government and Pfizer had signed an agreement that would allow access to Diflucan for a period of two years.  It was also important to note that Pfizer’s offer incorporated initiatives to strengthen South Africa’s health-care infrastructure, including the training of

clinicians and technicians, which would significantly enhance the treatment component of the country’s treatment programme.

Ms. Sisulu went on to say that her Government was pleased to see that the Partnership was expanding to other SADC countries.  Since HIV/AIDS did not respect boards or barriers of any kind, SADC Health Ministers had worked diligently over the years towards an integrated regional approach to deal with the pandemic.  Access to affordable drugs and strengthening the infrastructures of the relevant countries were two very important elements of that regional approach.   

“Partnership is the key word”, Dr. McKinnell said, echoing the sentiments of Ms. Sisulu.  In the face of massive epidemics, it was only through responsible, committed partnerships that real progress could take place.  The goals of the Diflucan Partnership were clearly defined:  to produce measurable and verifiable results and ensure the subsequent adaptation of the programme to address a wide range of global needs.

He added that the Partnership also helped answer the Secretary-General’s call for companies like Pfizer to continue to expand their roles in the global fight against AIDS.  “We will do our part in that fight”, Dr. Mckinnell said, “by making more medical resources and medical expertise available to those in need”.  Pfizer remained committed to leading-edge research in order to deliver the medicines of the future.  And while no one company or single entity could do it all, public and private partners could find new ways to work together and quickly expand programmes which had demonstrated solid results, particularly in combating a tragedy of such unprecedented scope.

Mr. Nkate said it was well known that Botswana was a country that had been most severely affected by the HIV/AIDS scourge.  Nearly 19 per cent of the population had been infected with the virus.  Evidence of that staggering statistic could be witnessed first-hand at the country’s hospitals, where over 60 per cent of the admissions were due to conditions related to HIV.  As many of those patients did not get access to some of the prohibitively expensive drugs that could treat those conditions, Pfizer’s assistance had come at a crucial time when the country needed it the most. 

He said this was particularly true because overall HIV infection rates there had reached the stage of maturity, where many patients were now starting to succumb to AIDS-defining illness, including meningitis, at a more rapid rate.  He therefore welcomed Pfizer’s offer on behalf of his Government and the people of the country as a great beginning to efforts to ameliorate suffering and halt the spread of the virus.

A correspondent asked if Botswana was worried that its inclusion in the Pfizer programme would spark a migration of patients from other countries that still did not have access to Diflucan or other drugs.  Mr. Nkate said that the situation was indeed difficult, but the best way to solve the problem would be for the international community to work to ensure that those neighbouring countries -- and poor countries around the world -- had access to the drugs so many urgently needed to combat the HIV/AIDS virus.

Mr. Pressley said that HIV/AIDS had devastated the continent of Africa, particularly the sub-Saharan region, where an estimated 25 million people were living with the virus and as few as 10,000 were receiving anti-retroviral medications.  South Africa had one of the fastest growing HIV-infected populations in the world, with more than 100,000 deaths yearly.  On the twentieth anniversary of the epidemic, it was now more important than ever for the international

community to redouble its efforts to ensure that 95 per cent of the world’s 36 million AIDS sufferers without access to affordable life-extending medications receive that access.  Mr. Pressley added that while his coalition truly applauded Pfizer’s decision to make Diflucan freely available in South Africa and other countries, the infections that the drug fought were but two of the numerous serious issues that needed to be addressed in a comprehensive public health approach to dealing with the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

“I know that Pfizer would agree that much work remains to be done”, Mr. Pressley continued.  Pharmaceutical companies needed to accelerate and expand similar programmes and partnerships to include other retroviral infections.  In making today’s announcement, Pfizer had set an example, he said, and it was his hope that other pharmaceuticals would follow suit and do more.  In that regard, it would be most critical for the outcome of the upcoming General Assembly special session on AIDS to mention the importance of developing partnerships (involving major corporations, employers, affected communities and policy makers) that could support local access to safe and ethical treatment.  He added that it was important to note that while a reduction in HIV infection had occurred in the United States, AIDS was definitely not over for people of colour.  Alarming statistics had shown that blacks, Latinos and other people of colour accounted for the majority of newly reported AIDS cases.

In response to several questions on the cost of the programme, Dr. McKinnell said that the South African contract cost of the drug had been estimated at $50 million over a two-year period.  So far, there had not been a clear estimation of how many patients would be reached, but at present, the number was in the thousands and the drug was available at 185 clinics throughout South Africa.  Those numbers and availability were expected to increase as the programme expanded. 

A correspondent noted that despite all the efforts aimed at addressing the disease in Africa, one lingering issue was that in many countries, homosexuals suffering from AIDS were generally ostracized.  That trend was particularly disturbing in Africa, the epicentre of the pandemic.  He directed his comments to Mr. Andjaba, since the President of Namibia was on record as having ordered the arrest of homosexuals.  Mr. Andjaba said that his country did not have a policy to arrest homosexuals.  It did, however, encourage freedom of speech.  At the same time, that did not mean that when the President spoke in his personal capacity, it should be considered official Government policy. 

A correspondent asked if Pfizer’s plan could be considered a template to address the AIDS epidemic at a global level.  Dr. McKinnell said he certainly hoped that was the case.  In that regard, it was important that the Secretary-General had called for the creation of a fund of $7 billion to $10 billion to support worldwide efforts.  He suspected that by the end of the summer, at least the "Group of 8" industrialized countries would have made announcements of donations to that fund.  The critical goal, however, was to look beyond mere allocation of resources and to move towards the creation of more varied and effective partnerships that could put appropriate personnel and infrastructure to deliver the proper care.  Mr. Pressley also added that governments, especially those with resources, must allocate significant funds to address the epidemic both domestically and globally.  To that end, the United States Government could not set the standard if President Bush’s proposal to invest a meagre $200 million to the proposed fund went unchallenged.

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