The President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva, inaugurated the country’s new deepwater oil field on Tuesday. Trial extraction of oil by Petrobras began in the Jubarte oil field 77 kilometers off the coast of the state of Espirito Santo. The discovery of massive oil reserves has triggered a debate in Brazil on how to use the country’s newly discovered oil wealth to fight poverty and transform the South American giant into a developed country.

Brazil . . . will oil lead to progress? . . .

Image: www.newspapercountry.com

President Lula, who grew up in extreme poverty (he was a shoeshine boy and a street vendor when he was a child), called the reserves a gift from God that should be used primarily to benefit the country by using it to lift people out of poverty and investing in education and health. Brazil may change its laws dealing with oil exploration and may create a new corporation to manage the oil reserves or increase its stake in Petrobras, the state-owned oil production company. Read more about the debate in this link.

Brazil also looks set to enhance its military capabilities to safeguard the country’s newly discovered wealth. The Brazilians are looking to develop the capability to build nuclear submarines with help from France or as a joint project with neighbour Argentina. A good move, as the notorious international killer corporate oil mafia may try filthy tricks to lay their dirty hands on the oil wealth that belongs to the people of the Latin American country.

Accelerated efforts to build Brazil’s first nuclear submarine are under way . . .

Image: www.globalsecurity.org

An alien Earthling wishes Brazilians good luck in their endeavours to utilise the newly discovered oil reserves to eradicate poverty in Brazil and to transform the country into a developed one!

I am writing the second part of one of my previous posts titled Patents versus Patients! after a long time. The Indian courtrooms are witnessing a series of battles that are going to determine the fate of millions of Earthlings around the world. It is a war between those who want to kill millions of people by denying them life-saving medicines and those who want to save millions of lives. It is a war between the greed of a few and the lives of millions of Earthlings. In short, it is a war between evil and good! Let there be no doubt in anyone’s mind about which side I support in this war that may lead to more deaths than the Second World War if the killers win.

The right to life is a fundamental Human Right . . . so is the right to access life-saving medicines . . .

Image: www.sciencemuseum.org.uk

First, I shall include a press release from the team of noble international life-savers, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF or Doctors without Borders) below:

The Indian Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (INP+), the Manipur Network of Positive People (MNP+), and the Lawyers’ Collective HIV/AIDS Unit officially submitted their opposition to a patent application filed in the Kolkata patent office by Glaxo Group Limited for Combivir, a fixed-dose combination of two AIDS drugs (zidovudine/lamivudine, or AZT/3TC). The opposition is based on technical and health grounds. If India grants a patent on this AIDS drug, it will set a precedent that will hamper access to affordable AIDS medicines worldwide.

“Affordable generic AIDS medicines have been one of the cornerstones of our ability to keep more people alive, including here in India where we began treating people with AIDS this year,” said Dr. Pehrolov Pehrson, of MSF’s treatment project in Manipur, where all patients on antiretrovirals receive generics produced in India. “Without a reliable supply of low cost AIDS drugs – made possible because medicines patents did not exist in India for many years – national governments and treatment providers alike will be faced with an uphill battle, and patients risk having vital treatment interrupted or priced out of their reach.”

Of the over 60,000 patients in nearly 30 countries in MSF projects, 84% receive generic AIDS medicines made in India. Over 90% of all patients using AZT/3TC in MSF projects are on generic versions of the drug. National treatment programmes in India, Burkina Faso, Mongolia, Central African Republic, Malawi, Peru, the Republic of Kyrgizstan, Cambodia, Ukraine and Swaziland heavily rely on generic AZT/3TC. The availability of affordable quality generic versions of Combivir (AZT/3TC) and other anti-retroviral medicines has allowed developing countries to put more people on treatment and thus extend their lives.

The Indian groups opposing the patent are arguing that Glaxo’s Combivir (AZT/3TC) is not a new invention but simply the combination of two existing drugs. They say the granting of such a patent risks increasing the cost of anti-retroviral treatment for many people living with HIV/AIDS, thereby further increasing the burden on developing countries already struggling to treat patients.

“Universal Access to AIDS medicines will remain an elusive goal if there isn’t a steady supply of affordable medicines. Decisions made by Indian patent offices are a question of life or death for people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide who rely on the availability of these drugs made in India,” said Ellen ‘t Hoen, Director of Policy Advocacy at MSF’s Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines.

Last year, India changed its patent law to comply with the World Trade Organization’s patent rules. Three weeks ago, India granted its first ever patent to Roche for a hepatitis C treatment.

However, the Indian Patent law allows oppositions to a patent application before it is granted. Indian cancer patients and generic drug manufacturers recently opposed a Novartis patent application for Gleevec (Imatinib Mesylate), an anti-cancer drug, on the grounds that the application claimed a new form of an old drug. The patent was subsequently rejected by the patent office. Petitioners are now demanding that the Combivir patent application be rejected on similar grounds.

Here is a part of another press release that shows how people are being blinded by denying them access to affordable medicines:

Many patients with advanced HIV/AIDS can fall prey to the infection, cytomegalovirus (CMV) which will if untreated, lead to total and irreversible blindness in a very short space of time – sometimes just weeks.Blindness caused by CMV is preventable, but the most available treatments are invasive and far from ideal – injections directly into the affected eye or intravenous, twice-daily treatment requiring a long stay in hospital.There is a better medicine available – an oral medication, valganciclovir, produced by Roche. This drug is patented in China and the company charges US$ 10,000 for a four-month supply – simply too expensive for the vast majority of people most at risk of going blind. It’s a similar situation in both India and Thailand – both middle- income countries where the product is patented. While the manufacturer offers discounts to the poorest countries – mainly in sub-Saharan Africa – middle-income countries including China are offered no such discount and are charged the same as wealthy countries.Dr. Peter Saranchuk has worked in China in both of MSF’s HIV projects – in Nanning and the recently closed XiangFan project treating patients with HIV/AIDS. He describes his experiences in treating CMV and the frustration of seeing patients suffer because the best medicines are unaffordable.

My previous post Patients versus Patients! focussed on one Swiss company Novartis. Here is another Swiss company, F Hoffman-La Roche that seems to have been involved in a shady deal to obtain a patent in India. A case is going to be filed in the Madras(Chennai) High Court against the violation of fundamental rights as well as the weakened patent law.

Here is the link to another battle that is taking place in the Indian courtrooms, this time between the Brazilian AIDS advocacy group ABIA (Brazilian Interdisciplinary AIDS Association) and the Indian NGO SAHARA (Centre for Residential Care & Rehabilitation) on one side and the American firm Gilead Sciences on the other.

Also, take a look at this link to an interesting discussion from the XVI International AIDS Conference.

It is clear from all these links that the Indian courts have become the battleground in a war which will determine the fate of millions of humans around the world. The evil forces will use the dirtiest tricks to succeed in their nefarious designs of killing people by denying them access to life-saving medicines and deriving pleasure in watching them suffer and die. They are true sadists! Shame on them!

(To be continued)

Related post:

Patents versus Patients! (Part 1)

Finally, I managed to watch two complete Euro 2008 games yesterday. I could not post this after the matches got over as it was too late. It’s too late to write match reviews now, so I’ll just write a summary.

The Croatians stunned Germany 2-1 to advance to the quaterfinals of Euro 2008. It was a lively game till the very end. Croatia scored first and never let Germany back into the game though the Germans tried very hard.

German coach Joachim Löw brings on Kevin Kuranyi towards the end of the game . . .

The second game, also in Group B featured the Poles against the co-hosts. Austria had more chances in the first half, but the Poles were the first to score. It looked as if Poland would win the game, but a late penalty in the second half enabled the Austrians to salvage a 1-1 draw.

One simply cannot keep the Brazilians out of the beautiful game – Roger Guerreiro, born in Brazil, scored Poland’s goal . . .

Euzebiusz Smolarek of Poland makes a dash for the ball . . .

Austrian goalie Jürgen Macho made some macho saves . . .

Today’s Group C matches feature the world champions, Italy against Romania while France take on the Netherlands.

[Photos are of a poor quality as they were taken off the live footage on television (ESPN) ]

Gustavo Kuerten, a former World No. 1 tennis player from Brazil and a three-time winner of the French Open, has bid farewell to professional tennis. Read more about the career of this tennis pro from Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brasil in this link.

Gustavo Kuerten, the champ . . .

Image:http://tugues.primera-clase.com

Guga, as he is affectionately known, is famous for his “tennis grunts” on the court. He is fluent in Portuguese, Spanish and English. In 2005, he was placed 37th in a list called “The 40 Greatest Players of the Tennis Era” by TENNIS, a popular tennis magazine.

My favourite male tennis players are Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, but Guga is one of my favourites on clay. Brazilian sportspersons, be they footballers or racers or volleyball players are very charismatic and Guga is no exception.

Watch a video of the amiable Guga . . .

If the video does not load, you can watch it here.

We will miss you, Guga!

Adeus Guga! Obrigado!

Related posts:
Ro . . . Ro . . . Romário!

One of my favourite footballers has retired from competitive football. You can read all about the outstanding career of Romário de Souza Faria on this wikipedia article.

The first time I watched most of the matches of any soccer tournament was the 1994 World Cup finals held in the USA. I instantly turned into a football fan after watching Romário and his team-mates lift the most coveted prize in sports. Romário partnered Bebeto in Brazil’s attack where he scored five goals and Bebeto scored three. Romário was selected the FIFA World Player of the Year and won the World Cup Golden Ball in 1994 and named as one of the Top 125 greatest living footballers as part of FIFA’s 100th anniversary celebration.

Here is a selection of goals scored by the Brazilian (please turn on your audio to hear some samba music while watching it being played out on the field) :

If you have any problems with the video, you can watch it on this YouTube link.

Adeus Romário! Obrigado!