Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2000. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
The Wall Street Journal - March 24, 2000
Michael Waldholz, Staff Reporter
The advocacy groups, including the international organization, Doctors Without Borders, have been urging the drug maker to either reduce Diflucan's price or allow poor nations, such as those in Africa, to sanction the sale of inexpensive generic versions of the medicine. The drug, which generated about $1 billion in world-wide revenue for Pfizer last year, is effective in fighting lethal fungal infections common among people in poorer nations who are infected by HIV, the AIDS virus. Priced at about $17 for a daily dose in South Africa, the drug is beyond the reach of most AIDS patients in developing nations.
In the most dramatic action yet, four AIDS activists late Wednesday slipped past security guards at Pfizer's midtown headquarters here and made their way to the 23rd-floor office of William Steere, the company's chairman and chief executive officer. According to Eric Sawyer, a founding member of the activist group, ACT-UP New York, Mr. Sawyer and three others refused to leave the area directly outside Mr. Steere's office until they were given a meeting with Pfizer officials about Diflucan.
Meeting With Company Official
In an interview Thursday, Mr. Sawyer said he didn't talk to Mr. Steere, who shut his door when the activists tried to enter his office. Instead, Mr. Sawyer's group met for a half-hour with James Brigates, the world-wide product manager for Diflucan, along with another Pfizer official involved in African issues.
A Pfizer spokesman said the company couldn't comment on security issues, but confirmed that Mr. Sawyer and his group did meet with Mr. Brigates at Pfizer's headquarters. Brian McGlynn, the spokesman, said Mr. Brigates told the group that Pfizer was struggling with the issue and would give the activists a response to their demands by April 3. Mr. McGlynn said Pfizer has been in contact with the Treatment Action Campaign, a coalition of South African AIDS activists, who have been pressing the Diflucan pricing issue for several weeks.
Earlier this month, Doctors Without Borders said it delivered a letter to Pfizer officers in 18 countries asking the company to reduce Diflucan's price in South Africa and elsewhere. "In South Africa, where one company holds exclusive marketing rights, the cost of [the drug] is nearly 15 times higher than in Thailand where the drug is not patent protected," the group said in their March 13 press release.
Drug Keeps Infection at Bay
Diflucan, also known by its generic name of fluconazole, is effective against cryptococcal meningitis, a common systemic fungal infection that can be deadly to people whose immune systems have been crippled by HIV. The fungal infection can kill within a month or so, but daily Diflucan treatments can keep the fungal infection at bay.
The drug is available for about $1.20 a day in Thailand, where Pfizer's patent isn't being enforced and the drug is made by generic drug manufacturers. It is, however, illegal right now for any generic makers to sell the drug elsewhere.
The activist effort is part of a broad campaign by activists and public health groups to get large drug makers to reduce the prices of AIDS drugs or allow for the marketing of generic versions of the medicines in poorer nations. The campaign is expected to spread in coming weeks as activists gear up for the World Conference on AIDS, which will be meeting in July in Durban, South Africa.
Write to Michael Waldholz at michael.waldholz@wsj.com1
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