Tuesday, April 6, 2004

White House (EEOB) – Met with Kristen Silverberg, Robin Cleveland, Randy Tobias, Mark Dybul, Alan Gilbert, Press person from WH (?name, a woman), Joe O’Neill, and others to discuss issue of the bad press we are getting regarding the misperception that the USG and PEPFAR will not buy generics, particularly the fixed dose combination (FDC) of D4T, 3TC and nevirapine that CIPLA and Ranbaxy are selling. Decision was made to have Randy Tobias write and Op-Ed for The NY Times or the Washington Post (I will review it for him) and then have me and Randy as necessary do the TV circuit to get the truth out , i.e. that we will buy any drugs , even generics, so long as they are of high quality (safe and effective) and the lowest possible price. April 6-12, 2004 – Not much opportunity to implement issue above on April 6 because the entire Press is consumed with the deteriorating conditions in Iraq. Major insurgencies by both Sunnis (Fallujah) and Shiites (Baghdad) against American troops. Several US troops are getting killed each day and insurgents have resorted to kidnapping civilians from other countries who are working in Iraq, i.e. Japanese, Australians, UK, Chinese, etc. Bad situation that is getting worse.