Anti-AIDS blitz sees pharma firms locked in ugly battle

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Anti-AIDS blitz sees pharma firms locked in ugly battle

Sep 1, 2007 | The Economic Times| Khomba Singh (TNN)

NEW DELHI: It's a potent cocktail of rivalries involving pharma companies and

NGOs. It has now emerged that Aids Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the US-based NGO

that accused Cipla of over pricing anti-AIDS drug, Viraday, in India is part

funded by American anti-AIDS drug maker Gilead and the NGO's treasurer is a

senior Gilead executive.

This is largely the reason why foreign and Indian NGOs such as Medicine Sans

Frontier (MSF), Delhi Network of Positive People (DNP+), Indian Network of

Positive People (INP+), Sahara and others refused to be part of AHF's anti-Cipla

campaign.

Cipla had refused Gilead's offer to sell the latter's anti-AIDS drug Viread

under a licensing agreement. Cipla is also the only Indian company opposing

Gilead's patent application for its blockbuster anti-HIV drug Viread in India.

The hearing for the patent case of Viread is due in October.

Gilead has entered into a contract with 10 Indian companies to sell Viread in

India and other countries. These companies, which include Ranbaxy, Alkem,

Aurobindo, Emcure, Hetero Drugs, Matrix Laboratories and Shasun Chemicals &

Drugs among others, are not opposing Gilead's patent application.

Says a head of an NGO, who did not participate in the anti-Cipla campaign:

³There is a conflict of interest in the campaign. AHF is funded by multinational

pharma companies. A senior Gilead executive is one of the directors of AHF and

the campaign choose to target Cipla for over pricing at a time when it is

fighting Gilead's patent case in India. There is a discomfort and many civil

society groups decided to stay away from the campaign.²

Following the campaign, the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practice

Commission is set to probe Cipla's pricing of the anti-HIV drug Viraday in

India. AHF Asia Pacific bureau chief Chinkholal Thangsing, who is spearheading

the campaign, however, dismissed the allegation. ³AHF is not for sale to Gilead

or any other company.

We differ with Gilead on many issues and have expressed that concern

publicly and privately. We are opposed to Gilead's application for a patent in

India. Gilead was not involved in AHF's decision to run advertisements asking

Cipla to bring down prices in India,² he said.

When contacted, Gilead senior V-P and general counsel Gregg Alton, who is also

the treasurer of AHF told ET: ³Gilead is not funding or in any way involved with

AHF's campaign. As a board member of AHF, I was made aware of this campaign, but

neither I nor Gilead have any involvement in it.² Gilead Foundation, a

non-profit entity of the drug company Gilead, provided a grant of $7,50,000 to

AHF in 2006 for a program to support HIV patients in Uganda.

Similarly, the grant supports work to direct resources for education,

outreach and infrastructure to AHF programs in India and Southeast Asia, he

added.

A Cipla official said, ³Given the context, AHF's campaign is motivated by MNCs

and there is a straight forward agenda to malign Cipla. From where does AHF get

the money to pay for such huge advertisements? We are suing AHF for the false

allegation.² Dr Thangsing said AHF targeted Cipla as it is the leader amongst

the generic AIDS drugs manufacturer and charges the highest prices among generic

companies.

Cipla and MSF have confirmed that the Indian company had indeed offered to sell

Viraday at Rs 21,000 in Africa, as recently as June 2007, while it sells the

same drug for Rs 54,000 in India, he alleged. AHF has so far spent $25,000 for

the campaign but the money has come from AHF's own fund, he said.

From:

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-2328352,prtpage-1.cms

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Devaki Nambiar <devaki_nambiar@...>