By Irwin Arieff
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – U.N. Secretary-General Kofi
Annan encouraged executives from nine drug companies on Monday
to lower prices of AIDS medicines and step up efforts to
develop AIDS drugs and diagnostics for children.
Annan for the first time included generic drug makers in
his latest in a series of meetings with top drug makers at U.N.
headquarters over the past five years.
The meetings aim to encourage the pharmaceutical firms to
broaden access to AIDS drugs, care and support services in low-
and middle-income countries.
While the executives had helped, the AIDS epidemic was
“still outpacing our efforts, and we need to work together in a
broad partnership to step up the response,” he said.
At his request, the officials agreed to review the prices
of existing and new HIV medications and diagnostics to make
them more affordable, accessible and appropriate for use in
low- and middle-income countries, Annan said.
They also pledged to give greater priority to developing
pediatric formulations of HIV medications and diagnostic tools
for children.
Attending the meeting were Stephen Saad, group chief
executive of South Africa’s Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Ltd.;
Chairman P. V. Ramprasad Reddy of Indian drug maker Aurobindo
Pharma Ltd.; Gary Cohen, executive vice-president of U.S. firm
Becton Dickinson & Co.’s BD Medical unit, and Peter Dolan,
chief executive officer of U.S.-based Bristol-Myers Squibb Co..
Also attending along with Annan and U.N. officials involved
in the fight against AIDS were Jean-Pierre Garnier, chief
executive officer of British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline Plc;
B.P.S. Reddy, founder of Indian pharmaceutical firm Hetero
Drugs Ltd.; Christine Poon, vice chairman of U.S.-based Johnson
& Johnson; U.S.-based Merck & Co. Inc. Chief Executive Officer
Richard Clark, and Malvinder Mohan Singh, chief executive
officer of India’s Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd..
Comments