14th February 2016


I want to start by saying that I have been expecting a move from Gilead to block exports of generic Hepatitis C medicines from India ever since generics Hep C medicines became available. For some time I was warning people that is may occur. So it is not really a surprise that it has happened.
Of course I must admit that I thought that, just perhaps, the heartless and greedy bastards who run Gilead may have decided to allow the poor people of the world to have access to generic Hep C treatment and that Gilead would be happy with the dollar or two per pill that they are getting in royalties from India. But no... Gilead is greedy and heartless through and through.
“Pay the full price or die,” the executives of Gilead mutter as millions of people around the world slowly die from this terrible, easily cured disease. History will remember Gilead as one of the great examples of inhuman corporate greed.

Lining up the ducks
One has to wonder if Gilead has been lining up its ducks for the last few months, planning an extensive attack on access to generic medicines. Planning how to prevent dieing people accessing a cure.
One would expect so.
Gilead is a company with vast resources, inconcievable wealth and global connections. One only has to recall how my Western Union account was blocked last year. It is still blocked today. No-one who lives at my home address can send or receive money by Western Union. Just a small demostration of Gilead’s global influence.
Like Western Union, DHL and Fed Ex are both huge multi-national companies based in the USA. Suddenly, out of the blue, neither will handle generic meds. Neither Fed Ex or DHL will carry generic Hep C meds to Australia or New Zealand where such traffic is perfectly legal. One wonders why.

So how do we respond?
We respond by sending the medicines to people other ways. DHL and Fed Ex are not the only ways of legally shipping medicines around the globe.
So we will start using other courier services. Smaller ones but also with good reputations and global reach. The service will not be quite as fast as DHL or Fed Ex, instead of 5 to 7 days it will be 10 to 14 days but people will still get their medicines. People will be cured.
Greed will not prevent people from accessing life saving medicines.
Justice will prevail and we will make sure that people continue to be able to access affordable generic Hep C treatment whereever they are on Earth.