The supply of life-saving AIDS medicines in Mexico is in crisis.  The quantity of these drugs is far short of the need.  The “cocktail of three” is available to very few patients.

            In addition, these medicines have some very special characteristics; they must be taken with great care and regularity, in specific combinations and without interruption.  Any variance in dosage can result in the patient becoming resistant to the given drug combination, and a different regime of alternative medicines must be begun.  These then, too, must be taken consistently and regularly.

            Given the huge shortage of these medicines in general, it is plain to see that patients who miss a monthly appointment, or face and interruption in their treatment, may easily find themselves without treatment, without medicine, and in far worse condition than before.

  What is the cause of this terrible situation?

            I believe the fault lies not with our doctors and health workers.  I know many who are dedicated workers who have the condition of their patients in utmost concern.

            No, the cause is, simply, economic.  The obscenely inflated prices of antiretroviral medicines is directly killing millions around the globe, and many in Mexico.  Protected by trade regulations and highly beneficial patent laws in the United States and elsewhere, the “transnational” pharmaceutical industry has no motive to lower its prices.  The wealthy shareholders of Roche, Merck, Glaxo Smith, Bristol-Meyers, among others, have no interest in a healthy populace.  They are only interested in the largest possible financial returns on their investments.

            Additionally, these investors owe a great deal to their colleagues sitting on regulatory commissions.  Today, the pharmaceutical industry is protected by regulatory laws permitting medical patents up to an excessive 20 years.

            Unfortunately, there is no one in the pharmaceutical industry, no one in the stock investment systems, no one in government, no one sitting on the regulatory commissions in a position to make a change in this situation.

            From whom can we seek help?  I believe it will only come from a movement out of our own communities, from individuals dedicated to the health of their patients, strongly supported by doctors and health workers, to seek out alternatives, to make possible the manufacture of generic antiretroviral drugs at greatly reduced prices and bring the life-saving measures to 100 percent of those who need them.

            This movement, I see, is beginning to take root in various countries around the world.  Some have taken concrete steps to see that this occurs.  In Mexico, an informal coalition of civil groups, genetic manufacturers, AIDS workers and concerned individuals have begun to confer with sympathetic legislators to take a new look at existing patent laws.  One such proposal would allow the duration of patent coverage on medicines for severe illnesses ( such as cancer and AIDS) to be reduced from 20 years to 10 years.

            In the fast-growing epidemic of HIV/AIDS world-wide, and the rapidly changing medical developments, experts admit that a 20 year patent protection represents a bloated anachronism solely in place to insure the maximum profits for pharmaceutical shareholders and an enormous barrio to the good health of our patients.

            We, in the Frente Común Contra el SIDA, join our voices with those calling for fair prices for AIDS medicines to all our patients who need them.

Ayax Cruz

Director of Education

Frente Común Contra el Sida