Indian company pulls plug on AIDS drug (UPI via MENAFN - Middle East North Africa . Financial Network)
Ranbaxy Laboratories voluntarily withdrawn seven of its antiretrovirals and all pre-qualified products from the WHO pre-qualification.
Ranbaxy could not guarantee that its drugs were as potent as more expensive brand-name versions. The drugs have not been found to be substandard but are not proven to be as effective as drugs of rival expensive brand names.
This decision is expected to affect tens of thousands of patients using the drugs in poor countries.
This is a major blow to the WHO effort to fight AIDS in Asia and Africa. Ranbaxy and Cipla were two major companies who had offered very inexpensive AIDS medicine to WHO. This withdrawal will also strenghten the claim of other large pharma companies that their expensive drugs are justified.
Posted by Harshal at November 10, 2004 01:33 PMhttp://business.iafrica.com/worldnews/389440.htm
has some more details.
Agree.. big big setback! US AIDS drug manufacturers, who have been fighting these generic drug manufacturers in low cost countries (principally India) must be rejoicing... what companies make AIDS drugs in the US? Am sure most of the big name companies (Merck, BMS, Pfizer, Novartis, Eli Lilly, Glaxo) have programs.. but for something as specialized as this some start-up like smaller company set up by a leading researcher in the area might have the big bets too!
Btw, did not know of this small token effort by Bush admin. to fight AIDS. Bush or maybe it was Colin Power made a big hue and cry over AIDS during an Africa trip some years back.. but in reality it was a topic that took little precedence during the campaigning or even in general Bush administration policy. With Africa being deemed as DOOMED on multiple fronts, and the pharma companies lobby lining the pockets of the politicians in the US, African AIDS crisis is not surprisingly of little importance to US politicians.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/17/health/17AIDS.html?ex=1100408400&en=3944ff2de3fae94f&ei=5070
Posted by: Sanjeev on November 12, 2004 01:19 PM