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Letters

HIV, TB, HCV, Global Health and Research Communities Call on Congress to Protect the Fogarty International Center

  • Chad Cipiti

Dear Majority Leader McConnell, Minority Leader Schumer, Speaker Ryan, and Democratic Leader Pelosi: We the undersigned urge Congress to reject devastating funding cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) proposed under the President’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 “skinny budget,” released on March 16, 2017. Of grave concern is the targeted elimination of the Fogarty International Center at NIH. This indiscriminate cut jeopardizes life-saving research required to end devastating global diseases like tuberculosis (TB) and HIV/AIDS, as well as malaria, dengue, and Ebola.

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LAM PEPFAR Request

  • Chad Cipiti

February 8, 2017: TAG and partner organizations advocating for the rights of people affected by HIV and TB around the world encouraged the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to support the immediate introduction of the LAM test in all PEPFAR-funded…

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Reconsideration of support for impending 21st Century Cures Act

  • Chad Cipiti

Dear Minority Leader Pelosi: On behalf of Treatment Action Group (TAG), I write to you strongly urging for the reconsideration of your support for the passage of the 21st Century Cures Act. Even as an impending and new version of the bill is set to be introduced by Energy and Commerce Chairman, Rep. Fred Upton – we are concerned that several provisions carried from the prior iteration of the bill (H.R. 6) may continue to undermine public health and jeopardize patient safety. These concerns include lowering standards for the FDA in determining approval for prospective drugs and devices, increasing the likelihood of antimicrobial resistance, to granting extended market exclusivity for new drugs.

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Petition to BRICS countries to triple funding for TB R&D

  • Chad Cipiti

Tuberculosis (TB) is the world’s deadliest infectious disease, and research into new ways to prevent, diagnose, and treat TB is urgently needed. BRICS countries—Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—are home to nearly half of all the world’s new TB cases and deaths, yet only provide 4 percent of funding for R&D to prevent them. In anticipation of the 6th Meeting of the BRICS Health Ministers, please join our call for BRICS countries to triple funding for TB research and development (R&D).

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Letter to Hillary Clinton on HCV Drug Prices

  • Chad Cipiti

Dear Secretary Clinton, As a national group of healthcare providers, advocates, and patients dedicated to preventing and treating viral hepatitis, we welcome your recent comments in Cleveland regarding the high price of pharmaceutical drugs to cure the hepatitis C virus (HCV). We are encouraged by the broad support for government action on the high price of pharmaceutical drugs, especially those for viral hepatitis, and to see this issue being directly addressed by elected officials at all levels of government. However, we are writing you today out of concern that your current healthcare platform does not specifically or adequately address the national and international viral hepatitis epidemics. We must work together to raise the profile of hepatitis B and C as urgent public health priorities.

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An Open Letter to Senator Sanders Challenging the Characterization of Meeting with HIV/AIDS Activists

  • Chad Cipiti

Dear Senator Sanders: We are grateful that you took time to sit with us this week to discuss a broad range of issues related to the fight against HIV/AIDS. Our group represents a larger coalition of over 70 organizations and advocates from across the country who hope to use this opportunity to push forward the national conversation, which is sorely missing, about HIV/AIDS. While we were optimistic following what we felt was a productive meeting, our optimism quickly turned to disappointment when your campaign issued a news release misrepresenting the meeting with HIV/AIDS leadership entitled “Sanders Backs California Ballot Initiative to Rein in Drug Prices at Meeting with HIV/AIDS Advocates.”

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HIV Community Letter to Hillary for America

  • Chad Cipiti

Dear Secretary Clinton: We write to you in the sincere hope that we can work together to transform the pain caused by your March 11th mischaracterization of the Reagans’ role in the AIDS crisis into an urgently needed public discussion of a plan to end the United States HIV epidemic by the year 2025.

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TAG’s Response to Sen. Cassidy Statements on AIDS Research Spending

  • Chad Cipiti

I would like to offer comments to correct the record on statements given by Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) at the October 7, 2015, hearing on the National Institutes of Health fiscal year 2016 budget. Several of his comments to the committee and NIH Director Francis Collins were incorrect or misleading. If his erroneous statements about AIDS research funding at the NIH are mistaken for fact, we will set a dangerous course for current and future research being conducted at the agency and undermine the prioritization process under way at the Office of AIDS Research (OAR).

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