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September 10, 2009
ATAC Releases Pharmaceutical Company HIV/AIDS Report Card
On September 10, the AIDS Treatment Activists Coalition (ATAC) released September 10 a report card on the pharmaceutical industry that graded nine pharmaceutical companies on their drug development portfolio and plans, access to drugs, pricing, community relations and marketing practices around HIV, The New York Times reports.
ATAC researched Abbott Laboratories, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Gilead Sciences, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Pfizer, Roche and Tibotec Therapeutics over the course of the past year.
Merck and Tibotec scored the highest on the report card receiving Bs. Abbott scored the lowest, receiving an F.
As a group, the nine drugmakers received an average grade of C- which, according to Bob Huff, antiretroviral treatment director of the New York City–based Treatment Action Group and board member of the ATAC rating board, indicates room for improvement.
“There’s an opportunity now to kick it up a notch,” Huff told the Times. While ATAC receives funding from pharmaceutical companies, he affirmed that cash flow had no affect on the grading process. “There’s no sugarcoating,” he said. “The membership feels that the pharmaceutical industry can be doing a much better job, whether it’s innovation or pricing.”
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