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Sunday
1st July 2004
Copycats'
hit drugs firm's profits
27th July 2004
Gilead
Science (GILD) surges as earnings trounce expectations.
Sales of the HIV drug
Viread drove the outperformance, the company said.
1st
July 2004
HIV
made me feel ugly and battered but no more—Rolake Odetoyinbo Nwagwu
1st August 2004
Thoughts
from Bangkok-Part I
By Simon Kivamwo
31st July 2004
July
2004
Last
months Newsletter
June
2004
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©
ImpActAIDS 2004.
This is an official ImpActAIDS newsletter.
manchester business - regional news
'Copycats' hit drugs firm's profits
Louisa Nesbitt -
Tuesday, 27th July 2004PHARMACEUTICALS giant GlaxoSmithKline posted a 17% fall in second quarter profits today as it continued to suffer from the impact of generic competition.
The blue-chip group, which said copycat versions of anti-depressant drugs Paxil and Wellbutrin had eroded sales, saw pre-tax profits fall to £1.63 billion in the second quarter in 2004.
But "outstanding" growth by newer products was helping it overcome competition elsewhere and meant turnover on a constant currency basis was up 2% at £5.06 billion.
Glaxo said asthma drug Advair and diabetes treatment Avandia performed particularly well, with their sales up 22% and 59% respectively during the three months to June 30.
The weak US dollar affected the results, and meant that operating profits fell by 9% to £1.71 billion, a fall of 1% when measured on last year's exchange rates.
Although the third quarter would be challenging, Glaxo said it expected a return to earnings growth in the fourth quarter.
Chief executive Jean-Pierre Garnier said: "Outstanding sales growth for several of our key products is enabling us to overcome the impact of generic competition to Paxil and Wellbutrin.
"In particular, Advair and Avandia continue to be significant engines of growth for the company."
Sales of consumer healthcare products rose by 4% to £798 million and were boosted by products such as Aquafresh, whose sales were up 8% in Europe.
Pain reliever Panadol saw a 17% increase in revenues, helping lift over-the-counter medicine sales by 2% to £357 million.
Glaxo
Glaxo also said "excellent" growth by energy drink Lucozade, whose sales rose 16%, contributed to a 10% increase in sales of nutritional products.
Mr Garnier said he was pleased with the progress of its R&D pipeline, which would fuel growth in the long term.
Products being developed include Boniva, a treatment for osteoporosis, and Entereg, a drug to treat the gastrointestinal side effects of surgery.
Drugs due to be launched in the next six months include HIV treatment Epivir/Ziagen, a single tablet which eliminates the need for so-called "cocktail treatments".
Others are Avandaryl for diabetes, Rotarix for treating rotavirus gastroenteritis in children and Vesicare for people with over-active bladders.
Glaxo said sales of Coreg - a treatment for heart failure - grew by 50% to £113 million as is continued to benefit from data showing the drug could significantly reduce the risk of death from a heart attack or stroke.
Lamictal, which is used to treat manic depression, increased its sales by 38% to £171 million.
Sales of genital herpes treatment Valtrex rose 19% to £145 million, driven by higher market share in the United States, where it is the market leader.
Shares rose nearly 2%, or 21p to 1092p.
Related stories
Drugs giant 'endangered children's lives' (03/06/2004)
Links to other web sites
GlaxoSmithKline
Gilead Science (GILD) surges as earnings trounce expectations.
Tom Philpott Equity research editor
31 Jul 2004Gilead Sciences () jumped more than 10 percent Friday after releasing Q2 earnings that surged ahead of Wall Street expectations. The biotech titan reported a net profit of $111.5 million, or 49 cents a share, compared with $100.4 million, or 46 cents a share, a year earlier. But analysts had been expecting just 33 cents a share, so investors and analysts alike reacted with glee. Friday's rally is the latest in what has been a year of steep rises and sharp falls for Gilead.
Sales of the HIV drug Viread drove the outperformance, the company said. Viread rose 18 percent to $197 million in the second quarter; the company said it now expects full-year sales for its HIV drugs, including Viread and the newer HIV treatment Emtriva, of $850 million to $875 million.
Joel Sendek of Lazard Freres upgraded Gilead to "buy" from "hold" on the news. "Due to across-the-board, ongoing strength in all major franchises, and with the [Emtriva] launch about to supply further stimulus, together with dramatic earnings leverage on display in the second quarter despite fully taxed operating earnings, we are increasing our earnings estimates and price target and upgrading our rating," the analyst wrote in a Friday note.
The company's share price has been held down of late by inventory concerns surrounding Viread. Gilead recently boosted its price for the treatment by 4 percent, leading some suppliers to stock up just before the price hike. "There was always fear they would tell us there was a high amount of Viread in the channel that needed to come out," James Reddoch, an analyst for Friedman, Billings, Ramsey, told Reuters Friday.
Friday's report largely cleared up that issue, Reddoch told the news agency. The company announced Friday it has signed inventory-management agreements with its three major wholesalers. And Viread's robust Q2 performance vindicated that approach, Reddoch said. "Gilead is growing up. It's become a big company and a well-managed company," Reddoch said.
HIV made me feel ugly and battered but no more—Rolake Odetoyinbo Nwagwu
By Jemi Ekunkunbor
Sunday, August 01, 2004BESIDES breast cancer, HIV/AIDS remains one of the most serious health issues facing women all over the world. In an environment where polygamy and female genital mutilation is practised, their vulnerability is further compounded.
Rolake Odetoyinbo Nwagwu got the “death sentence” as she chose to call it, a few years ago when she was diagnosed as HIV positive. Then everything about her fell apart. A trip to Barcelona a few years ago changed her life for good. Now an activist and conference speaker, the smiley member of Global Network of People with AIDS (GNP+) just got back from Thailand where she attended the 15th edition of the World Conference on HIV/AIDS. In this interview, you’d find a must-read Rolake, the columnist, sharing her experience at the conference and what it is like living with HIV.
WHAT was the Thai conference like and what experience did you take out from there?
For me, it was a good experience. I particularly enjoyed it because I felt that I was giving something back to the conference. The very first HIV/AIDS conference I attended was in Barcelona 2002 and then, I didn’t know much about HIV. In fact, I wasn’t open about my status. I went to Barcelona with the knowledge that HIV was a death sentence. I felt that while I was alive, let me just get the best out of life.
The conference for me wasn’t so exciting. It was the people I met that made the world of difference. I met people who had lived with HIV for 20 years and couldn’t tell they had HIV. So Barcelona challenged my mentality. It also helped me see HIV/AIDS in a different light. I saw activists who were openly challenging the gross discrimination as regards HIV/AIDS, challenging pharmaceutical companies who were more concerned with profit than saving human lives.
Challenge and zeal
Two months after Barcelona was when I got the challenge and zeal to take back my life and drop off things that were so unrewarding, walk out of relationships that were unprofitable and talk openly about HIV. I was tired of the silence because it was driving me crazy. I wanted more from life. I was tired of carrying this cross of shame and fear around.
So, going to Thailand for the 15th HIV/AIDS conference was an experience. I found it hard to believe that just two years ago, I had gone for the same conference as a novice. But here I was in Thailand, giving back to that conference that helped change my life.
What were some of the issues raised at the conference?
Access to treatment was the number one issue. When we were hearing about AIDS 10 years ago, the picture was all gloom and doom. We were hearing of people dying in the UK and America. We don’t hear that anymore. Is it that they’ve eradicated HIV/AIDS from that part of the world? No, they have access to treatment and HIV has stopped being a death sentence. It has become like high blood pressure which has no cure but can be managed with medication. So for me, the most important issue is for HIV/AIDS to stop being a death sentence. We can live with HIV.
What was the African position at the conference, bearing in mind that we have certain socio- cultural beliefs that impede progress?
The ABC of prevention has failed the African. A-abstinence. How many of us who are married or in steady relationships can abstain? Majority of the women who are getting infected in Africa are not homosexuals or sex hawkers. They are women who have steady partners. B- be faithful. My being faithful is an assumption. I can only speak for myself. I cannot speak for my partner. So A-abstinence has failed me as a married African woman, B-be faithful has failed me because I can only speak for myself, where my partner is concerned, I’m only assuming. C-condoms.
Tell me, how do you begin to negotiate condom with your husband knowing that you are not the only woman in his life? For you and I as women, if you know your husband is unfaithful to you, the only thing you’ll do is to cry and he’ll beg you if he’s a good man and promise you it won’t happen again. Do you know what will happen? He will simply change to another girl. The truth is that with HIV, if your partner or husband is fooling around, it’s your life that man is fooling around with. And until we begin to see infidelity as a matter of life and death, we won’t take HIV/AIDS seriously.
What should women do?
What they should learn to do is to learn to negotiate safer sex. I find it amazing when women say, “I can’t get my husband to wear a condom”. But you can get that man to bring out money when you need to buy clothes. It’s just that you are convinced and passionate about needing money for shoes and clothes. So even if he’s the stingiest man, you know how to sweet-talk him into getting what you want but when it comes to that man helping you to protect your very life, you say he doesn’t like to do it. There’s always a nice way of putting things across.
Would any African woman want to jeopardize her marriage for anything?
Yes, women like their marriages but which is more important? Your life or your marriage? Unfortunately for us as women, we have put everything ahead of our own lives and well being - the man you marry is more important than your very life, your children and bearing Mrs. So, even if you see death staring you in the eye, just because you want to be Mrs somebody, you take it. And it’s unfortunate because it’s the way we were brought up as women. And even with HIV/AIDS, women are bearing the brunt of it as primary care givers.The burden of HIV is so great on women. So if ABC has failed us, let’s go to DEF. D-for younger women to delay their sexual debut. Whether you have sex when you are 16 or when you are 36, sex is sex. The most important thing is who are you doing this thing with? There’s no different pleasure that comes with sex. Pre- or extra-marital sex. Sex basically is a physical thing. What is different is your emotional and spiritual commitment to that act. There’s so much pressure out there.
People want to have sex. And the man says, 'you can’t be a dog in a manger; if you are not going to give me, somebody else will,' and because you want to hold on to this man, you have sex with him.
But there is also the issue of polygamy not helping matters in our society?
There are cultural issues and I’m weary of joining the bandwagon to say do away with cultural practice. Instead, let’s look at how we can do things in a safer way. Polygamy on its own is not bad. It’s what it breeds. The danger in it for women. If you are married to four women, how do you satisfy them? You might have one or two who would go out and graze and so you are sleeping with every man sleeping with your wife. And the hordes of women those men have. Sex is not a taboo. It is beautiful.There’s no higher physical pleasure you can attain. You can’t get the kind of pleasure you get from sex from eating or from football. That shows its a good thing but how do we make it safer? So when it comes to polygamy, we all have to sit down and talk and negotiate. So we must re-appraise our values and that is the thing with HIV/AIDS. It’s challenging everything we’ve believed in. It’s turning around our mentality.
Thailand is known as a hot spot for sex, how come the HIV/AIDS situation there is so low?
There, sex trade is legal and sex hawkers are encouraged to use condoms. As a man, you can’t go to a sex hawker without condom. It’s unlike here if one girl says you must use a condom, you go and find 50 others who don’t want condom.
The people there affirmed condoms unlike here where we are still debating whether it is a mortal sin or not. It’s not a religious issue. It’s a matter of if you are having sex, you must protect yourself. I believe as a Christian, simply save that life before you save a soul. Before you begin to preach at me, help me to stay alive then we can begin to talk about condoms. But if I’m dead, you can’t preach to a dead person. That’s why in a place like Thailand, even with the hot sex, the infection rate isn’t like we have here.
What is it like living with HIV?
It has been an up and down journey for me. In the earlier stage, I was devastated. My greatest fear was fear itself. I was afraid of the stigma and of the shame. But once I got information about HIV/AIDS, I realized that this is nothing but a virus. I haven‘t done anything to be ashamed of. Okay, I had sex so what? Are we not all having sex? Did I have my sex legally or illegally, that’s beside the point. How you got infected is not the issue. I think the greatest problem we have living with HIV is, getting people to talk about it.
The stigma and discrimination makes it difficult for people to cope with the virus. I’ve gone through the cycle and I‘m alive. HIV like any other problem, for me, is a stepping stone onto greater things. I keep telling people that my healing is settled. While I‘m waiting for the manifestation of it, what am I going to do with HIV? Am I going to serve my generation with this or am I going to wallow in pity and shame and allow HIV kill me? No.
HIV has taken me to places I never imagine I‘d ever get to. In Barcelona, I was in the same room with Bill Clinton and Nelson Mandela and I was weeping like a fool. I couldn’t believe I‘ll see these people. What brought me there? HIV. I‘ve met heads of state and heads of parastatals. Believe me, when you step out, God steps out with you.
Just let go and watch God catch you. There really is nothing to fear. If you decide HIV is a problem, people will take it as a problem. I chose to disclose my HIV status. It wasn’t easy initially; there’s a price to pay but you must decide the most important thing in your life.
At the point where you were struggling to come out with your status, what did you look like?
I felt ugly, I felt battered, I felt ashamed and it radiated outside. Everybody tells me now that I look so beautiful. It‘s because of the inside, I have so much peace, so much joy. So many things are happening in my life and its radiating on the outside. I‘ve never been such a make-up person, I‘ve never been a weave-on person.
If anything, I don‘t go to the salon anymore because of my low cut, but I look more beautiful than I looked then. If you look beautiful inside, you‘ll look beautiful outside and believe me then, I felt ugly inside I dreamt ugly. Right now, I feel like I‘m Miss World. These days, I like to dress to look the part. When I‘m attending international conferences, I tie the gele and really look like Iya Oge. I don‘t want to go out and look like HIV and that‘s it.
Thoughts from Bangkok-Part I
By Simon Kivamwo
2004-07-31 07:38:49
Staff Writer Simon Kivamwo recently returned from Bangkok, Thailand, where he attended the 15th International Aids Conference.
Simon is the Chairman of the Association of Journalists Against Aids in Tanzania (AJAAT). On his return to the Guardian newsroom, his colleague Christopher Elkington interviewed him.
Q: Simon, HIV/AIDS has been described, probably quite accurately, as the worst disaster in the long history of mankind.
You, as a journalist, have read, many articles in newspapers produced both by this publishing house, and other media institution in Tanzania. You have also written your own articles on this subject.
The Association, of which you are Chairman, is also now more than one year old. Tell me honestly. Did this conference, which cost several million pounds, tell you anything new? Did it in any way change your thinking about this colossal global problem?
A: Thank you! First of all, let me remind you what was the theme of the Bangkok AIDS meeting . “Access for all” was the theme of the just concluded conference you are asking about.
Access for all briefly means that the time is now ripe for the world to ensure that services related to HIV/Aids reach every affected human being without any discrimination.
These services in the fight against the virus, which has so far infected around 40 million people globally, include, treatment and care, prevention, home-based care, spiritual care, supportive policies and legislative and other necessary related approaches all meant for counter-attacking the pandemic.
From my personal point of view, I would agree that this year’s conference achieved something, though, maybe, not so much .
For the first time, a global conference on HIV/Aids witnessed a series of demonstrations and protests throughout the six-day event, involving activists from all over the world who were pointing an accusing finger at the international organizations and governments for not doing enough to reach the poor, and to help relieve them from the clutches of the pandemic.
The activists, among others, were people living with HIV/Aids, men-who-have-sex with men (MSM), drug users, sex workers, and other pressure groups.
Their slogans paraded on placards included : “You talk, we die”, “We are ashamed that in 2004 some 38 million people are living with HIV/Aids and fighting the same battles after two decades.
Despite all that we have learned about what works in prevention and treatment, the epidemic is on the rise in every region of the world.”
Unlike all the past conferences, this year’s event indicated that the world was really scared. People are dying in their millions of the pandemic, and none of the efforts to secure a permanent cure are yet in sight. That is why the issue of Anti-retro viral (ARVs) drugs was on top of the agenda.
Realizing the fact that many people were now in a great need of these life-prolonging drugs, the conference kept on exerting pressure on the international organizations and governments to pin down pharmaceutical companies to make their products affordable, so that many people, especially from poor countries can get access to these life prolonging drugs. From my point of view, the” access for all “ can have a meaning if the recommendations of the six-day marathon conference are put into practice.
Q: How many delegates attended, from how many countries?
A: The organizers put the total number of delegates at 20,000. They came from all-over the world. Participants were drawn from all walks of life such as politicians, researchers, scientists, religious leaders, traditional healers, journalists, youths, people living with HIV/Aids sex workers and the like.
You should be aware that, Aids is “ a disease without borders”. It has gone everywhere, making random attacks that leave behind devastating effects such as large numbers of orphans, diminished work forces, and poverty .
There is no class, which can claim to have so far been spared by the pandemic. So, by recognizing this fact, participation to the conference is objectively global. In the other words, I can say, Aids is part of the globalization phenomenon…. we may not want to share experience in other areas of development, but, with Aids, the world is talking the same language that, “ Aids is our enemy”.
Q: Did you get a chance, outside the conference room to talk to colleagues from countries like Uganda, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and South Africa?
A: Yes, I did. I had talks with the Reverend Evot Mugarura, a Ugandan who works with Balm In Gilead, a US-based Church organization determined to fight the disease from the religious angle.
Like many other faith based organizations (FBOs) personnel, Rev Mugarura thinks and believes that Abstinence and Behavioral change are the only ways of stemming the tide of the pandemic .
Uganda is one of the few countries in the world renowned for having successfully contained the spread of the virus among its people. Rev. Mugarura had even warned that poor countries should not hoodwinked by the pressure for making ARVs available to the needy, while at the same time forgetting to bolster prevention strategies.
“People should be sensitized that the best way to outsmart HIV/Aids is to be faithful or abstain,” I remember the reverend to have told me when we were chatting on the subject at the Commercial and Non-Commercial Exhibition center, where Balm In Gilead had their stall .
Q: Of all the speakers who addressed the conference, who was it who most impressed you?A: Several speakers gave their speeches, and most of them (speeches) addressed the serious effects the pandemic was causing to mankind.
But, the closing remarks by former South African President, Nelson Mandela had an added value. Probably, it is because of his statesmanship and background.
I was much moved by his strongly worded warning. Mzee Mandela said history would surely judge us harshly if we did not respond with all the energy and resources that we could bring to bear in the fight against HIV/Aids.
To me, the speech by Mandela, who was nearing his 86th birthday, showed how the entire world was facing an extraordinary challenge that needed concerted efforts now, and not tomorrow.
The veteran anti-apartheid leader further lamented: “We share a common humanity with our brothers and sisters suffering in this epidemic ask yourselves what you can do as global citizens in the fight against HIV and Aids,”.
His speech penetrated further into my heart when the ageing Mandela concluded by saying: “The day after tomorrow (18th July, 2004), will be the day I turn 86.
There could be no better birthday gift than knowing that there is renewed commitment from leaders in every sector of society to take real and urgent action against AIDS.”
So if you can reflect on those words being uttered by such a renowned statesman, then you should get a real message…a message that calls for total commitment to the war against HIV/AIDS.
Q: I read one criticism in a European newspaper that the scientific content of the conference, that is information about research in progress, work on vaccines, and protective gels, etc, was very small. Would you agree with this?
A: That’s correct. It appears that the world, is slowly losing patience (hope) on the possibility of securing a vaccine or permanent cure for HIV/Aids.
As far as my personal views are concerned, even the research efforts to secure the cure are no longer on the top of the agenda. When I was in Durban, South Africa—some four years back, I remember talking to a scientific researcher from a respected global research company based the USA on this issue.
You know what he told me? He said: “Young-man, we have been working around the clock to search for the cure for over 20 years ago to no avail.
I am afraid that in t 10 years time we will be in exactly the same position.”
Now, coming back to your question: the Bangkok conference, was largely dominated by pharmaceutical companies which were there to display their ARVs, the drugs to help prolong the life of a people living with HIV/Aids (PLHAs).
The way things appear, is that much of the efforts are now being shifted from looking for a permanent cure for the pandemic to prolonging the lives of those infected . Surely, as you put it, there was very little, if any, reporting on the scientific side of this global war.
Q: The way the conference was reported in some of the world’s media made me feel a little paranoid.
I got the impression that a great deal of focus was put on the spread of Aids in Asia, and I feared that maybe the rich countries would use this an excuse for sidelining the African continent.
After all, the countries of the north do a lot more business with Asia, than they do with Africa. Or, are my fears groundless?
A: Not at all!!. There is no way that rich countries can use the just concluded Aids conference that was held in Asia, as an excuse to sideline Africa. The reason here is clear, and that is that Africa is the leading continent with the highest rate of HIV/Aids infected people .
It is estimated that of the 40 million affected people, 27million of them come from Africa, and worse still, mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa. Rich countries, therefore, would be making a gross mistake to sideline Africa and concentrate on other parts of the world, such as Asia.
This will result in the fastest escalation of the pandemic since Aids is a “transcontinental” phenomena . It just moves so silently, and mostly secretly between two people who meet in a room to have sex.
Remember, scientific records indicate that 95 percent of the transmission is through unsafe sexual intercourse. So if you can assure me that, reach countries and their people will cut-off all links with Africans, then you can convince me.
Otherwise, “if you abandon Africa, Aids will catch you wherever you are”. Rich countries are aware of the problems. That is why they are now committing a lot of money to Africa for this purpose.
The governments of USA, Britain, Germany, Japan, Nordic countries, International organizations and the like, have all been pouring in millions to rescue Africa from the catastrophe.
I still believe they will not give up, and I can’t see the reason as to why they should shift from Africa to elsewhere. Asia was highlighted in the media because of two simple reasons.
First, the 15th International Aids Conference, was the first of its kind to be held in the continent…so, there was a need to highlight the region, because of its “proximity”, but, secondly, most of the Asian countries are known for not being ready to break the silence and stigma that surround the pandemic.
They are alleged to have been hiding facts about the actual state of the pandemic in their respective countries, thus, making intervention strategies more complcated.
Therefore, do not be worried by the recent trend in media coverage. It is genuine. Asia really needs attention because the problem is big, but for quite a long time, the continent has not yet been open about it as is the case with Africa.
From my point of view, the coverage has nothing to do with the existing trade links between those rich countries and Asia.SOURCE: Guardian
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