Indian generic drugmaker targeted by AHF for "putting profits before patients"

The USA-headquartered AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which operates free AIDS treatment clinics in India via its AHF India Cares subsidiary in collaboration with the National AIDS Control Organization, has launched a new advocacy campaign that challenges Cipla, the Indian generic drugmaker, for its steep prices for HIV/AIDS drugs in its domestic market.

The campaign focuses especially on Viraday, a generic formulation of US drugmakers Bristol Myers-Squibb's and Gilead Sciences' Atripla, an all-in-one antiretroviral combination that includes the drugs efavirenz, emtricitabine and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate. The AHF said its campaign against generic drug over-pricing was beginning with a focus on Cipla, although the US group is "well aware that other drug companies including Ranbaxy, Emcure, Aurobindo and Genex are not immune to similar review."

The print advertisement unveiled at a press conference in New Dehli was headlined: Profit at What Cost? AIDS Drugs for All. The AHF and partner organizations reported that it would appear in prominent Indian newspapers, The Hindu (based in Dehli), The Indian Express and The Financial Express (both Mumbai-based).