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To: Maurice Winn who wrote (66079)	7/9/2005 1:19:01 PM
From: elmatador	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74559

Abbott Laboratories Friday agreed to again lower the price the Brazilian government pays for Abbott's AIDS drug Kaletra, resolving a dispute in which the country threatened to seize patents on the popular treatment for the HIV virus. Abbott cuts price Brazil pays for AIDS drug Kaletra By Bruce Japsen, Tribune staff reporter. Dow Jones Newswires contributed to this report Published July 9, 2005 Abbott Laboratories Friday agreed to again lower the price the Brazilian government pays for Abbott's AIDS drug Kaletra, resolving a dispute in which the country threatened to seize patents on the popular treatment for the HIV virus. Brazil had threatened to break Abbott's patent on Kaletra and manufacture it in its state-owned drug plant in Rio de Janeiro if it didn't get a price break from the North Chicago company. Abbott would not disclose terms of its agreement with the Brazilian government but said the price of Kaletra will decrease as the number of patients taking the drug rises in coming years. Brazil's threat to issue a compulsory license order allowing drugmakers to copy and produce one of Abbott's top-selling drugs drew the wrath of several groups that have urged Congress to take actions that include economic sanctions. "We were not willing to compromise our intellectual property under any circumstances," Abbott spokeswoman Melissa Brotz said. "Throughout this process, we were mindful of the importance of the outcome of this issue, which has implications beyond our company and our industry for all innovators," Brotz added. "We are committed to protecting our intellectual property so that innovation flourishes." Even before the latest price cut, Abbott previously negotiated with Brazil to bring its price for Kaletra down to $2,562 a year--less than half of what developed countries pay. In the United States, where the price is the highest, the drug costs about $7,000 a year. Abbott says Kaletra in Brazil is already sold at the lowest price outside Africa, where the firm subsidizes its price as part of a humanitarian access program. The price Brazil pays for Kaletra was already lower than anywhere else except for Africa and other underdeveloped countries that participate in that program. Critics said Brazil was hardly a country in crisis, citing its fast-growing economy and low AIDS infection rate. Brazil is considered a success story in containing AIDS in a developing nation. With continuous and frank safer-sex campaigns, the Latin American country of 183 million people has succeeded in keeping the spread of HIV infections to levels similar to those in Western Europe. The Brazilian government buys the drug and distributes it free to many patients. In recent years, Brazil has repeatedly managed to get price reductions from pharmaceutical firms by threatening to break patents. It was also in negotiations with two other AIDS drugmakers, Merck & Co. and Gilead Sciences Inc. Kaletra is one of Abbott's best-selling medicines and on pace to generate more than $1 billion in worldwide sales this year.

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (66079)	7/9/2005 11:21:58 PM
From: elmatador	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74559

Feminism ended today!! Girls take to surgery so they can face university “Some of these women see university as the starting point of their career. Looks are now much more important in society and they see this as helping them achieve more in their education and careers. These young women see a good body image being linked to success.” <<<Finally that thing of the 60's is now gone! NO more feminism. Women that I want to succed are using the righ devices!!! This is good!!>>> Girls take to surgery so they can face university Sarah-Kate Templeton, Medical Correspondent STUDENTS are resorting to breast surgery before starting university because they fear they will otherwise lack the confidence to meet new friends and succeed in their studies. They are also turning to plastic surgery to plump up their cheeks, enhance their lips and reshape their nose. Surgeons are reporting a booming demand from female students for the breast enlargement procedure, which costs about £3,000 — coincidentally the price of top-up fees from the start of the 2006 academic year. Some surgeons report that several students a week are turning to them in a drastic attempt to boost their self-esteem. They say that students, traditionally indifferent to personal grooming, are now becoming obsessed with their appearance. There are concerns that some surgeons may be trading on the insecurities of young students who should be left free to develop their sense of identity without commercial pressures. Professor Kefah Mokbel, a consultant breast surgeon at the Princess Grace private hospital in London, has been so concerned by the trend that he is now carrying out a study of 600 female university students to find out the percentage of undergraduates who have gone under the knife. Mokbel, who is also a breast surgeon at St George’s hospital in London and professor at the Brunel Institute of Cancer Genetics, said: “We have observed a lot of female students coming for consultations, particularly from the first year at university. “Some of these women see university as the starting point of their career. Looks are now much more important in society and they see this as helping them achieve more in their education and careers. These young women see a good body image being linked to success.” Mokbel fears that while cosmetic surgery may be helpful in some cases, it can cause profound damage to others. “When a young person is vulnerable, surgeons should be very careful and identify whether this young woman is having surgery for the right reasons.” He cites as an example the television series Nip/Tuck, in which Joely Richardson plays a plastic surgeon’s wife. She decides to have breast implants to make her husband pay greater attention to her. Apostolos Gaitanis, who practises in Harley Street, believes the reason for the rise in cosmetic surgery among freshers is that it enables them to reinvent themselves. “University marks a change in their life and they want to make a new start. They want to improve their looks in order to feel more confident,” he said. Freshers are also paying for a range of other procedures to enhance their looks. At Glancey Medical Aesthetics in Essex, Dr Lucy Glancey, the medical director, has two to three students a week requesting fuller lips. One of her clients, Vickie Potter, 23, from Ipswich, has just had lip augmentation in preparation for life as a psychology undergraduate at York University. “I was always concerned looking at photographs that my lips were too thin,” said Potter. “I wanted to make the most of myself before I meet new people. They are not going to know what I looked like before.” Jas Deep, who will be 18 next month, has just had her nose reshaped by Gaitanis ahead of going to Stourbridge College in the West Midlands to study drama and possibly law. Deep said she was bullied at school because of her long nose and felt self-conscious. “I think looks do determine the group of friends people end up with. I didn’t want other students to say, ‘She is not very pretty, I don’t want to be her friend’.”