IFPMA slams AIDS group attacks on industry

The International Federation of Pharmaceutical ManufacturersAssociations has condemned attacks on pharmaceutical companies related to the controversy over access to affordable HIV/AIDS treatments.

"We fail to understand the motives of some AIDS activists, as the research-based pharmaceutical industry is offering antiretroviral medicines at generic-level prices in developing countries," said IFPMA president Rolf Krebs. The group was concerned, he added, that "some have another, ideologically-based agenda, ie to discourage the morale of the industry's research base."

The industry has been open for discussion and for new solutions for quite some time, said Prof Krebs, but it cannot open the way to giving up patents. "Those who fight for a patent-free world are unwittingly accepting a major halt to R&D," he said, adding that no generic manufacturer will come up with new treatment options for AIDS, or have the answers to side-effects problems or to the development of resistance, etc.