NEW DELHI, India, August 24 /PRNewswire/ --

- After AHF Publicly Challenged Indian Company Over Its AIDS Drug Pricing, Cipla Demanded a Published Apology, One Billion Rupees (USD $25M), and Threatens HIV/AIDS NGO with Defamation Lawsuit

- AHF Urges India's Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission to Widen Announced Inquiry of Cipla to Include Company's Overall AIDS Drug Pricing Practices

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), which operates free AIDS treatment clinics in India under AHF India Cares (in Mysore, New Delhi and in Guwahati, Assam in collaboration with the National AIDS Control Organization) -- will host a press conference in New Delhi on Friday August 24th in which it will refute Cipla's baseless assertions regarding its claim of 'defamation' in a recent AHF advocacy ad, reject Cipla's demand for one billion rupees (USD $25M), and address Cipla's subsequent legal threat to the NGO -- a possible lawsuit. AHF will also call on India's Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC), India's anti-trust commission that probes monopolistic, restrictive and unfair trade practices, to widen an inquiry of the Indian drug maker -- which MRTPC first opened as a result of AHF's advocacy ad -- to investigate the apparent steep prices for Cipla's generic AIDS drugs in India compared with prices the company has offered for people in Africa. According to an August 20th article on LiveMint.com, an online publication of the 'Wall Street Journal,' " ... MRTPC has directed its investigative arm to probe the alleged overpricing of HIV drug 'Viraday' by Cipla."

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 from AHF 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 for USD $25 million over the ad, which was part of an advocacy campaign spearheaded by AHF challenging Cipla over its prices in India and Africa.

"To the contrary, we are unashamed by our recent drug pricing advocacy advertisement in India, and AIDS Healthcare Foundation does not intend to either retract the advertisement or run apology ads," said Michael Weinstein, AIDS Healthcare Foundation President in a statement from Los Angeles. "Cipla's claim of defamation is a baseless charge that we vow to fight publicly and in court. We do not apologize for our advocacy, or for trying to save the lives of our patients in India and people in need. We are heartened that India's MRTPC is investigating Cipla, and urge the Commission to expand its investigation to include Cipla's AIDS drug pricing policies and practices in India and Africa."

Of the 2.5 million people now estimated (officially) to be living with HIV/AIDS in India, approximately 85,000 are receiving lifesaving antiretroviral treatment. According to the World Bank, the per capita gross national income (GNI) in India in 2005 was roughly USD $730, while Cipla's published price in India for Viraday (its generic three-in-one combination antiretroviral therapy that patients have to take just once a day, and which was featured in the recent advocacy ad) is approximately 54,000 rupees (USD $1,344) -- nearly twice the average Indian's annual income.

"At AHF's clinics in India and around the globe, I see firsthand how antiretroviral treatment can save and improve the lives of people living with HIV and AIDS," said Chinkholal Thangsing, M.D., Asia Pacific Bureau Chief for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, and a physician who is based in New Delhi. "I am disappointed that India's own Cipla wants to bankrupt an NGO treating AIDS patients in India and Africa that was simply and very publicly asking questions about price differences for one of Cipla's key lifesaving AIDS drug combinations -- a seemingly wide range of prices that Cipla has yet to fully disclose publicly."

Two weeks ago, AHF and several Indian civil society partners and co-sponsors rolled out the drug pricing advocacy campaign with a print ad headlined, "Profit at What Cost? AIDS Drugs for All." The ad, which appeared in the prominent Indian newspapers, 'The Hindu' (Delhi), 'The Indian Express' and 'The Financial Express' (both based in Mamba), questioned Cipla regarding a price difference of 150% between what Cipla has offered African and Indian purchasers for the same lifesaving antiretroviral combination (as per Cipla's own published price in India versus the price in Africa per the 10th Edition of Medicines Sans Frontiers' Pricing Guide). After the ad ran, Cipla officials issued a terse statement and told several reporters, " ... not one pack of Viraday has been sold in Africa," -- never disputing the fact that Cipla appears to have offered dramatically different prices to Africa than to its own fellow countrymen.

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. AHF believes that Viraday is but one example of questionable drug pricing by Cipla. In one recent letter to AHF, Cipla all but conceded that it did, in fact, offer Viraday in Africa at a greatly reduced cost, stating, "Cipla does not have a differential price at which it exports Viraday to Africa. The only concession made was at an earlier stage when in response to MIFF, Cipla, as a special case and for a limited period, offered MSF a concessional rate for Viraday for least developed countries," (letter from Jhangiani, Narula & Associates [on behalf of Cipla] 17 August 2007).

Confirmation of a discounted price offer by Cipla on Viraday for people in Africa came in Wednesday's Economic Times (22 August 2007), as Mr. Amar Lulla, Cipla Joint Managing Director, told the paper "Though the company had indeed offered to sell the drug to MSF at the Rs 21,000 price, it was never sold and the offer has already been withdrawn, Mr. Lulla added."

"In February 2001, Dr. Hamied was quoted in a 'New York Times,' article saying, ' ... this is a holocaust in Africa. It's like the earthquake in India right now -- everybody's helping out,' regarding the AIDS pandemic," added AHF's Weinstein from Los Angeles. "At the time, Cipla had announced plans to offer an earlier ART regimen to Africa for less than a dollar a day. It is unclear how widely that treatment ultimately became available after that groundbreaking offer, but Cipla's recent letters to AHF and it intended punitive actions raise far more questions about its drug pricing and practices. With such an incredible worldwide need for AIDS treatment -- as Hamied said, 'a holocaust,' and 'earthquake,' -- why was MSF the only provider that Cipla offered such a reduced price to, and why only for such a short window of time? And instead of Cipla proudly proclaiming 'not one pack of Viraday has been sold in Africa,' shouldn't we all -- Cipla, AIDS advocates, medical providers and HIV/AIDS patients awaiting treatment -- ask why?"

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 through direct meetings and correspondence with drug company officials; press conferences and press statements; filing of lawsuits; lobbying government officials; mounting of protests and awareness campaigns; and the placement of advertisements and calls to action, such as the recent, "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 worked with Gilead Sciences 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 GlaxoSmithKline (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.

In the Asia/Pacific region, AIDS Healthcare Foundation currently provides free anti-retroviral treatment to people in need through its clinics in India (Mysore, New Delhi, Guwahati) as well as in free treatment clinics in Thailand, Viet Nam, Cambodia and China.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is the US' largest non-profit HIV/AIDS healthcare, research, prevention and education provider, currently provides medical care and/or services to more than 61,000 individuals in 16 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean and Asia. For more information, visit http://www.aidshealth.org

WHAT: Press Conference AIDS Healthcare Foundation to Ask India's Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC) to Widen Inquiry of Cipla Over AIDS Drug Pricing WHEN: Friday, August 24th 2007 12:00 noon WHERE: NEW DELHI- Ambassador Hotel, Sujan Singh Park, New Delhi (room: Wheels Hall) WHO: Chinkholal Thangsing, M.D., Asia Pacific Bureau Chief, AIDS Healthcare Foundation Mahesh Ganesan, Ph.D. Asia Pacific Bureau Advocacy Coordinator, AIDS Healthcare Foundation

Web site: http://www.aidshealth.org

INDIA: Chinkholal Thangsing, MD, Asia Pacific Bureau Chief AHF Global (New Delhi), +91-98-1827-0687 mobile, chinkholal.thangsing@aidshealth.org, Mahesh Ganesan, Ph.D., Advocacy Coordinator, Asia Pacific Bureau, AHF Global (New Delhi), +91-99-1133-1998 mobile, mahesh.ganesan@aidshealth.org; UNITED STATES: Ged Kenslea, Communications Director AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), +1-323-860-5225 work, +1-323-791-5526 mobile, gedk@aidshealth.org, Lori Yeghiayan, Associate Director of Communications of AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), +1-323-860-5227 work, +1-323-377-4312 mobile, lori.yeghiayan@aidshealth.org