Conventional Investors Enlisted In Access to Health Care Effort

NEW YORK CITY, NY///March 1, 2005///Margaret Weber of the Adrian Dominican Sisters and Sister Vicki Bergkamp of the Adorers Of The Blood of Christ of Wichita, Kansas, the co-chairs of the Access to Health Care Working Group, took the extraordinary step this week of authoring a formal request for support of three Access to Health Care resolutions to a large number of conventional investors.

The three resolutions are: Separation of the Chair and CEO; Political Transparency and Accountability; and, HIV/AIDS Reporting.

Ms. Weber and Sister Bergkamp write:

"The pharmaceutical industry’s long-term business model is under considerable stress. This business model provides neither medicines to those in need nor consistent protection of shareholder value. We believe that it is not sustainable, and that the industry must reform itself. This slate of shareholder resolutions can begin the reforms necessary to put the industry on surer long-term footing, thereby protecting our and your investments, and your beneficiaries."

You can read the letter and the resolutions here.

The two thousand largest public pension funds, the thirty largest mutual fund families, proxy voting services, and faith-based investors - over 2,750 institutional investors in all - will receive the letter.

Sister Patricia Wolf, Executive Director of ICCR, said,"This letter is a Living Document. ICCR members will use it to enlist the support of public pension funds, investment managers, mutual funds, and other investors who are just now waking up to the underutilized asset in their portfolios: their proxy votes."

CONTACT: Daniel Rosan, Program Director for Public Health, 212 870 2317