Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/681726
ByJoshuaGoodmanand Linda A. Johnson The Associated Press BOGOTA,COLOMBIA Colom- bia's government is giving pharmaceutical giant No- vartis a few weeks to lower prices on a popular cancer drug or see its monopoly on production of the med- icine broken and competi- tion thrown open to generic rivals. Health Minister Alejan- dro Gaviria's remarks in an interview Tuesday are the strongest yet in an increas- ingly public fight with the world's biggest drugmaker that could set a precedent for middle-income countries grappling to contain rising prices for complex drugs. Memos leaked last week to a nonprofit group, writ- ten from the Colombian Embassy in Washington, describe intense lobby- ing pressure on Colombia, a staunch U.S. ally, from the pharmaceutical indus- try and its allies in the U.S. Congress. In one memo, the em- bassy warns that breaking Novartis' patent for the leu- kemia drug Gleevec could hurt U.S. support for Co- lombia's bid to join the pro- posed Trans-Pacific Part- nership trade zone and even jeopardize $450 million in U.S. assistance for a peace deal with leftist rebels. The memos followed meetings between Colombian diplo- mats and officials from the Office of the U.S. Trade Rep- resentative and a Repub- lican staffer on the Senate Finance Committee whose chairman, Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, has close ties to the pharmaceutical industry. Gaviria, an economist by training, said the pressure shows the forceful steps that the pharmaceutical in- dustry is willing to take to protect its commercial in- terests. "They're very afraid that Colombia could become an example that spreads across the region," he said. A spokesman for the Trade Representative's of- fice, in a statement issued Wednesday, said staff re- cently "met with Colombian officials to discuss numer- ous intellectual property is- sues in general," but have "never threatened funding of Paz Colombia," the peace deal. Government health pro- grams in many countries are being squeezed by high prices for newly launched drugs and by annual price hikes of 10 percent or more for medicines long on the market, and they are in- creasingly pushing back by demanding big discounts or setting price caps on ultra- expensive drugs. Gaviria denies he is try- ing to set a precedent in the global fight for lower prices. "For us, it's a question of survival," he said. He noted Colombia's health care sys- tem guarantees patients' ac- cess to all approved drugs and the budget is straining after years of price rises. In 2009, the government de- clared a public health emer- gency after spending on so- phisticated drugs had risen tenfold in just a few years. "As the state, you can't just buy everything at the price set by whoever is selling. But unfortunately that's what happened many times," Gaviria said. Novartis has rejected Gaviria's proposal to re- duce the price for Gleevec to 140 pesos (5 U.S. cents) per milligram. That is less than half the current reg- ulated price but still well above what generic ver- sions cost before they were banned when, after a de- cade of litigation, a Colom- bian court in 2012 awarded Novartis an exclusive pat- ent on one of two forms of the drug. In an April 20 letter, No- vartis' local affiliate said that it doesn't consider it convenient to initiate ne- gotiations over prices and that the decision to over- ride patents should be taken only in exceptional circumstances and not used as a bargaining tool. Gaviria said he is giving Novartis a little time to re- consider. But if the Swiss company doesn't, he said, he plans to declare access to the leukemia medicine a matter of public interest when he returns from a trip next week to Geneva to at- tend a meeting of the World Health Organization. Gleevec has been the top- selling drug for Novartis since 2012, bringing in $4.7 billion worldwide last year, or about 10 percent of the company's total revenue. It won't be the top seller much longer, though. Gleevec got generic competition on Feb. 1 in the U.S., which accounts for half of its sales. As a re- sult, in 2016's first quarter, Gleevec sales fell 40 percent in the U.S. and 20 percent worldwide. In Colombia, the patent is due to expire in July 2018. NOVARTIS Co lo mb ia b at tl es w or ld 's b ig ge st drugmaker over cancer drug By Gonzalo Solano The Associated Press QUITO,ECUADOR Twopow- erfulearthquakesjoltedEc- uador on Wednesday, caus- ing one death and injuring dozens. Neitherappearedtohave caused serious damage but the government decided to cancel school nationwide as a precaution. In Guaya- quil,officeworkersfledinto the streets after the second quake. Both tremors were cen- tered along the Pacific coast near the epicenter of last month's magnitude-7.8 quake and rattled homes as far away as the capital, Quito. Wednesday's initial shake was a magnitude-6.7 quake that struck before 3 a.m., and that was followed bya6.8tremoraroundmid- day. President Rafael Cor- rea said one person died in Manabi province in con- fusing circumstances that were still being investi- gated. At least 85 people were injured, two of them seriously. "These sorts of after- shocks are normal but that doesn't mean they're not scary and can cause dam- age," Correa said in a tele- vised address after the first quake. He added that after- shocks of this magnitude were normal for up to two monthsafteramajorquake like the one Ecuador expe- rienced in April. The president said that while some previously rav- aged homes suffered more damage, most of those structureshadalreadybeen evacuated and no buildings collapsed. Security coordi- nation minister Cesar Na- vas said one person was in- jured when a wall fell and five others were hurt in panickyeffortstofleebuild- ings. Themagnitude-7.8earth- quakeonApril16wasEcua- dor's worst natural disaster in decades, killing 661 peo- ple and leaving more than 28,000 homeless. It has been followed by hundreds of aftershocks, at least five ofthemofmagnitude6.0or higher. Ecuador was already struggling economically before the April disaster. Correa has raised taxes to fund the recovery but says it will take years to rebuild thebeachtownsandtourist hubs leveled by the quake. Jorge Zambrano, mayor of Manta, one of the areas hit hardest by last month's earthquake,saidthestreets were calm after Wednes- day's tremors. "It was a big shake and all of us were scared but there are no major prob- lems at the moment," said Zambrano. Associated Press writ- ers Joshua Goodman in Bogota, Colombia, and Al Clendenning in Madrid contributed to this report. SOUTH AMERICA 1 dead, dozens hurt as 2 a ershocks ra tt le E cu ad or MATILDECAMPODONICO—THEASSOCIATEDPRESSFILE Colombia's Health Minister Alejandro Gaviria, center, speaks in Montevideo, Uruguay. Both tremors were centered along the Pacific coast near the epicenter of last month's magnitude-7.8 quake and rattled homes as far away as the capital, Quito. InPrintEveryTuesday-Thursday-Saturday Online:Publishes24/7 www.redbluffdailynews.com Threeadditionalonline locations at no extra cost! 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