CIPLA, Tell The TRUTH: AHF launches new ad campaign

[Guest guest]

'CIPLA, TELL THE TRUTH'; AIDS HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION LAUNCHES NEW AD

CAMPAIGN

NEW DELHI, India, September 7 /PRNewswire/

Open Letter Print Ad to Appear Today in Major Indian Newspapers

Includes Chart Comparing Cipla Drug Prices in India vs. Africa; AHF

Urges Lower Prices, Greater Access for Indians in Need

As part of its ongoing global campaign to lower drug prices and

improve access to lifesaving HIV/AIDS treatments worldwide, AIDS

Healthcare Foundation (AHF) has published a print advertisement in

the form of an open letter that will appear in several prominent

Indian newspapers today.

Headlined 'Cipla, Tell the Truth' this latest ad is scheduled to

appear in the Mumbai editions of The Indian Express and The Financial

Express today and in the Delhi editions within a few days and follows

a month-long public dialogue regarding higher prices offered by Cipla

for its generic HIV/AIDS drugs in India vs. Africa.

The controversy was sparked by an earlier drug-pricing advocacy ad placed by AHF

in Indian newspapers in August. Headlined 'Profit at What Cost? AIDS Drugs for

All' the ad questioned a 150% price difference between what Cipla has offered

African and Indian purchasers for the same lifesaving antiretroviral medication.

Spurred by AHF's allegations, the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices

Commission (MRTPC), India's anti-trust commission that probes monopolistic,

restrictive and unfair trade practices, recently began an investigation into

Cipla's pricing practices.

" With this advertisement, we hope to put an end to the recent storm

of controversy pitting AHF and Cipla against each other and to re-

focus the public dialogue on what is most important: the fact that

Cipla's HIV/AID drug prices are simply too high in India, " said

Chinkholal Thangsing, M.D., Asia Pacific Bureau Chief for the AIDS

Healthcare Foundation and a medical provider based in New Delhi. " We

also hope to refute baseless claims recently leveled at AHF regarding

the motives behind our efforts to lower HIV/AIDS drug prices in India

and to increase access to lifesaving medicines.

As a non-profit organization with a twenty-year history of providing

free medical care and advocacy to people living with HIV/AIDS our

commitment has been, is, and always will be to the people we serve.

We urge Cipla to end its attempts to divert attention away from the

facts so that we can get down to the important work of saving lives. "

AHF begins its open letter to Cipla by reiterating its original claim-

which Cipla has yet to refute-that the generic manufacturer is

offering many of its HIV/AIDS medicines at significantly lower prices

in African than in India: " The simple truth is that Cipla is charging

too much for its drugs in India and its pricing is depriving Indians

living with HIV/AIDS of access to lifesaving treatment .

Cipla is charging much more for anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs in India

than they do in Africa. "

A chart included in the ad compares the private price Cipla offers in

India to the government or non-governmental organization price

offered in Africa and the private price offered in Uganda (where AHF

operates free treatment clinics).

The results are startling: Cipla offers Duovir-N, a combination of three generic

anti-retroviral drugs, for two times as much in India as it does in Africa and

almost one-and-a-half times as much than in Uganda. The price Cipla offers for

Triomune, a combination of three generic anti-retroviral drugs, is three times

as much in India as offered in Africa and two-and-a-half times as much as Cipla

charges for the same drug in Uganda.

Finally, the price Cipla offers for Efavir, a two-in-one anti-

retroviral combination, is three times as much in India as offered in

Africa or twice as much than Cipla charges in Uganda.

Bottom line: All three of these potential lifesaving generic ARV combinations by

Cipla are priced (or offered) at an average of two to three times less in Africa

than they are priced (or offered) in India; as such, the steeper prices offered

in India mean that fewer Indians can partake in the lifesaving benefits of these

Indian-made AIDS medicines.

The letter also answers baseless assertions about AHF's connections

to pharmaceutical companies: " Cipla has accused AIDS Healthcare

Foundation (AHF) of working for the multi-national drug companies.

AHF, a non-government organization, vigorously opposed high drug

pricing from all pharmaceutical companies. In fact, AHF has sued

several drug companies over the years to lower prices.

Gilead is one company that has worked closely with AHF and is one of many

supporting our free ARV programs in the developing world.

Nevertheless, we are strongly opposed to Gilead's application for

patents in India.

It should be clear: AHF is not for sale to anyone, at any price. "

In both public news articles in India and private correspondence with

AHF over the past two weeks, Cipla officials have demanded a

published public apology over the advocacy advertisement. With the

demand, Cipla has also informed AHF that if no apology is published

within seven (7) days, then it intends to sue AHF, an international

non-governmental organization (NGO) that provides direct medical care

and services to over 46,000 people with HIV/AIDS in 12 countries, for

USD $25 million over the ad.

In response, AHF states: " Cipla is diverting attention away from its

pricing in India and smearing AHF's good name in the process. Cipla

wants to intimidate the one organization that has publicly criticized

it by threatening to bankrupt us by demanding a billion rupees from

AHF for supposed defamation.

We will not be silenced by threats. We will continue to fight for the lives of

our 60,000 patients worldwide, including those in India.

Of the 2.5 million people now estimated to be living with HIV/AIDS in

India, approximately 85,000 are receiving lifesaving antiretroviral

treatment. Cipla, the world's largest manufacturer of antiretroviral

drugs to fight HIV/AIDS (as measured by units produced, distributed

and sold-not overall revenue), is best-known for manufacturing

economical generic anti-AIDS drugs used throughout Africa.

Detailing its extensive history of advocacy targeted at drug

companies with the goal of lowering drug prices and increasing access

to affordable HIV/AIDS medications, the letter ends with a challenge

to Cipla to demonstrate the same sort of commitment to affordable

drug access in for Indians in need as it does for Africa: " AHF is

prepared to meet with Cipla anywhere, at any time to find a solution.

The rest is up to Cipla. "

To view the open letter print ad in its entirety, please visit:

http://www.aidshealth.org/images/pdfs/ciplaad2thehinduweb2.pdf

History of AIDS Healthcare Foundation's Drug Pricing and Access

Advocacy

Over the years AHF has had a long, outspoken and successful history

of advocacy and outreach regarding AIDS drug pricing and access

issues around the globe. This advocacy has often occurred via direct

meetings and correspondence with drug company officials; through

press conferences and press statements; via the filing of lawsuits;

through lobbying government officials; via the mounting of protests

and awareness campaigns; and through the placement of advertisements

and calls to action, such as the current, " Profits at What Costs?

AIDS Drugs for All, " in India.

AHF's advocacy efforts have included:

Earlier this year, AHF mounted a similar print ad and awareness

campaign on AIDS drug pricing in Mexico. That campaign featured a

print ad, " AIDS Drug Prices to Die For, " which ran in prominent

papers in Mexico and several US cities and targeted both Bristol

Myers-Squibb (BMS) and Merck (known as Merck Sharp & Dohme in Mexico).

The two drug companies are being targeted for charging four times as

much in Mexico for their key AIDS drugs Reyataz and Stocrin as they

do in other Latin American and middle-income countries. Mexico, which

is classified as an 'upper middle-income' country, has a gross

national income (GNI) of USD $6,790 annually, while the average

annual per person cost of antiretroviral in the country is USD $8,000

(for treatments that can cost as little as USD $150 in Africa),

making these lifesaving AIDS regimens all but unaffordable for nearly

all those living with HIV/AIDS in Mexico.

The Mexico advocacy campaign is ongoing. -- Over the past four years,

AHF has targeted Abbott Laboratories regarding several of its global

AIDS drug pricing and access policies. AHF is currently targeting

Abbott for its recent cold-hearted and punitive access policies in

Thailand regarding its drug combination, Kaletra. In January, the

government of Thailand issued a compulsory license for the

manufacture and import of a generic version of the drug; the move

prompted Abbott to withdraw all new drugs, including Aluvia, a heat-

stable tablet formulation of Kaletra, from the official governmental

approval and registration process in Thailand. In July 2007, AHF

praised the government of Brazil for negotiating a 30% discount on

Abbott's Kaletra. Brazil had also threatened to issue a compulsory

license for Kaletra.

Separately, in 2004, AHF had protested and filed a lawsuit against

Abbott in response to a five-fold price hike the company instituted

on its AIDS drug, Norvir. The suit was later settled. -- AHF has

repeatedly called on the pharmaceutical industry as a whole to cut

prices and increase access to AIDS therapies globally. In July 2006,

AHF officials, who had earlier met with Gilead Sciences executives,

praised the drug company after Gilead announced plans to reduce

prices for its HIV/AIDS-related medications by two-thirds for middle-

income countries including Mexico.

AHF has also challenged British drug giant GlaxoKline (GSK) in

long running campaigns via protests, press conferences and lawsuits.

Some actions targeted GSK over its patent claim and steep pricing on

AZT, the first AIDS drug. Other actions focused on GSK's global

pricing and access, particularly in Africa, and its partnership with

Aspencare, a generic drug manufacturer in South Africa (where AHF

opened its first global treatment clinic in 2001), which after

several years hadn't produced any generic GSK AIDS medications. --

AHF also spoke out loudly when the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers

Association of South Africa and 39 pharmaceutical companies filed a

lawsuit against the government of South Africa when it approved a law

that would allow the country to import and manufacture cheaper

generic AIDS drugs.

The drug industry's move was met with 'a groundswell of public and

government opposition,' which caused some of the 'largest firms'

involved in the case to, 'rethink their strategy,' according to 'The

Guardian' newspaper. In April 2001, the drug companies agreed to drop

their lawsuit, a move that AHF praised.

Separately, AHF has targeted Pfizer Inc., the world's largest drug

company, over its reckless advertising and marketing for its erectile

dysfunction drug, Viagra. AHF hosted press conferences; issued press

statements; wrote and/or met with officials at the FDA and the FCC;

and filed a lawsuit over one of Pfizer's Viagra advertising

campaigns, which AHF believes encourage the non-medical use of the

drug as a party drug, and which AHF believes can contribute to

increased risks for exposure to sexually transmitted diseases,

including HIV. The campaign is ongoing.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation currently provides free anti-retroviral

treatment to people in need in India through its clinics in Mysore,

New Delhi and in Guwahati, Assam under the AHF India Cares banner and

in collaboration with the National AIDS Control Organization. In the

Asia-Pacific region, AHF also operates free treatment clinics in

Thailand, Viet Nam, Cambodia and China.

Additional information is available at www.aidshealth.org

http://www.itnews.it/2007/0907034203188/cipla-tell-the-truth-aids-

healthcare-foundation-launches-new-ad-campaign.html

[Guest guest]

Dear Forum,

Re: /message/7802

In reference to the above-mentioned subject I would like to share own

experiences as a consumer of Cipla till 2000.

In January 2000 my Anti Retroviral Therapy started with Duovir, the

duel combination ARD manufactured by Cipla under the treatment of

Calcutta Medical College, Kolkata. The monthly cost of that drug was

around Rs. 4500.00 per month and that time monthly cost of triple

combination drugs were around Rs. 12,000.00 to 15,000.00 per month

according to different combinations. I had to start my ART with duel

combination due to high cost, knowing that as a non-recommended

therapy for long term. Later on the price of triple came down to

around Rs. 3000.00 per month.

But within a sort span of time when Aurobindo Pharma first lunched

triple combination @ below Rs. 2,000.00 per month, then Cipla also

brought down their price at the level of Aurobindo Pharma's price.

Ultimately, very soon the price came down nearly Rs. 1,000.00 per

month, but the cost of P.I. Drugs were around 15,000.00 per month.

Such price fall was very much surprising to me imagining the actual

manufacturing cost and the profit level!

I asked many Medical Representatives in this regard, but everybody was

indicating about increasing number of patients. Still, it was very much

suspicious to me as a People Living with HIV Network initiator; I knew the

actual situation of increasing numbers of ARD users, which was not so high in

reality.

I was very much anxious about the prices of P.I. Combination because

of the stagnant nature. That time I got the opportunity to meet Dr.

Piot at the time of first Parliamentary Forum in India and I

asked him, was the fall of prices of 1st line ART is normal? If so,

then it would be normal to bring down the prices of P.I. Combination,

but he indicated about critical manufacturing procedure.

I asked again as a man with technical background that what cost could be

involved only for that critical part which was being added for such

high cost! As the price fall was very abnormal to me in compare to

other corporate practices in terms of price reduction.

Because we used to experience that some time some corporate reduce price about

more than 50% to beat their rivals, the price fall ofof any product from Rs.

12,000.00 to Rs.1, 200.00 was an abnormal indication!

And still today the manufacturing companies like Cipla, do not

showing the same attitude in terms of price reduction for the new 1st

line and P.I. Drugs which we experienced earlier about old 1st line

ARDs, although the numbers of patients have increased very highly!

Thanking you,

In solidarity,

Snehansu Bhaduri.

e-mail: snehansu.bhaduri@...